MflaawiHiatPftw 


CHURCH  COOPERATiON 
N  COMMUNITY  LIFE 


PAUL  L.VOGT 


UC-NRLF 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/churchcooperatioOOvogtrich 


Church  Cooperation 
in  Community  Life 


By 

PAUL  L.  VOGT 


,*»*»»»>»»         »     »    '■• 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK  CmaNNATI 


V7 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
PAUL  L.  VOGT 


UWBAIIV-,.  JfllC 


/\::^::::;"V:-    :  ^  *  •• 
' •  •••   •  •  •••  •••••• 


Printed  in  the 
United  States  of  America 


TO 

MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 

WHOSE    PUBLIC-SPIRITED    AND    LIFELONG    LOTALTT   TO 

RELIGIOUS   WORK    IN     A  COUNTRY   COMMUNITY 

HAS   BEEN   A   CONSTANT  INSPIRATION 

TO  CHRISTIAN   SERVICE 


46G547 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

Preface 7 

I.    Some  Preliminary  Definitions 9 

II.    The  Basis  for  Community  Service  . .     26 
III.    The    Economic    Challenge   to    the 

Church 44 

rV.    The  Social  Challenge  to  the  Church    69 
V.    Building  for  Community  Service  ...     84 
VI.    The    Church    and    Rural    Public 

Thought 94 

VII.    Adjusting  the  Local  Church  to  the 

Community :   104 

VIII.    Interdenominational  Readjustment  124 
IX.    The     Church     and    Other    Rural 

Agencies 142 

X.    Missionary    Programs    and    Rural 

Community  Service 152 

XI.    Summary  and  Conclusion 169 


PREFACE 

Many  books  have  been  written  during  the 
past  few  years  on  the  rural  church.  Some 
of  these  have  given  excellent  concrete  illus- 
trations of  methods  that  are  proving  success- 
ful in  solving  local  problems.  Others  have 
discussed  the  general  rural  church  situation. 
The  rural  life  movement,  however,  has  been 
so  rapid  that  it  is  believed  that  a  brief  re- 
statement of  the  place  of  the  church  in  the 
rural  hfe  movement  is  desirable  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

It  has  been  the  task  and  privilege  of  the 
writer  for  the  past  four  years  to  be  almost 
constantly  in  the  field  traveling  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from  Canadian 
border  to  the  limits  of  Florida  and  getting 
so  far  as  possible  first-hand  impressions  of 
rural  chm-ch  and  community  conditions.  It 
is  the  purpose  of  the  present  essay  to  discuss 
some  of  the  general  problems  in  rural  life 
presenting  themselves  to  the  religious  forces 
of  America,  and  to  note  some  conclusions  as 
to  the  next  steps  to  be  taken  if  these  forces 

7 


8'"''' "'        PREFACE 

are  to  render  the  service  in  rural  advance 
that  it  is  beheved  is  theirs  to  render.  Sug- 
gestions as  to  local  programs  will  be  made 
only  as  evidence  that  when  the  church  under- 
takes in  an  adequate  manner  the  solution  of 
problems  whose  solution  is  demanded  of  it, 
it  receives  both  the  moral  and  the  financial 
support  of  the  people  served.  The  chapters 
on  phases  of  the  local  program  are  intended 
only  to  help  in  preparing  the  way  for  the 
larger  service  contemplated. 

As  with  individuals,  so  it  is  with  institu- 
tions. It  is  difficult  to  discuss  the  place  of 
different  organizations  in  the  rural  life 
movement  without  arousing  the  antagonism 
of  leaders  in  the  respective  organizations. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  point  of  view  held  will  be 
accepted  as  one  of  sympathy  for  the  efforts 
of  all  organizations  concerned  and  that  the 
purpose  of  the  discussion  is  to  point  the  way 
toward  a  larger  cooperation  resulting  from 
a  better  understanding  of  the  work  that  may 
be  expected  of  each. 

Paul  L.  Vogt. 


CHAPTER  I 

SOME     PRELIMINARY     DEFINI- 
TIONS 

When  one  begins  to  discuss  a  subject  it 
helps  very  much  if  his  readers  know  what  he 
has  in  mind  in  the  terms  used.  In  the  title 
selected  for  this  text  there  are  at  least  three 
words  that  need  definition.  Probably  no 
reader  will  agree  fully  with  any  of  the  defi- 
nitions given,  but  an  attempt  to  define  should 
at  least  help  the  reader  to  understand  better 
in  what  sense  the  terms  are  used  by  the 
writer. 

The  term  "community"  has  come  into 
such  common  use  that  it  might  be  assumed 
that  definition  is  unnecessary.  And  yet  when 
learned  bodies  get  together  to  discuss  com- 
munity problems  a  large  part  of  the  time  is 
usually  taken  up  in  attempting  to  define 
what  the  different  speakers  are  talking 
about. 

When  the  writer  lived  in  the  open  coun- 
try several  years  ago  he  went  to  Mifflin  Cen- 

9 


10      CHCmiCH  COOPERATION 

ter  school  and  attended  Wesley  Chapel 
church.  The  schoolhouse  and  the  church 
were  located  at  the  same  crossroads,  and 
these  two  institutions  drew  for  their  constit- 
uency from  an  area  of  about  four  square 
miles  for  the  school  and  a  somewhat  larger 
area  for  the  church.  Brownstown  school,  to 
the  south,  Hendrickson's  to  the  east,  and 
Whetstone  to  the  west  made  up  other  school 
communities.  Pleasant  Grove  chiu'ch,  Sa- 
lem, and  Brownstown,  with  a  different  ter- 
ritory covered  by  each,  made  up  church  areas 
that  did  not  coincide  with  the  school  areas 
bounding  Mifflin  Center  school  territory. 
In  like  manner,  when  trading  was  to  be  done. 
Upper  Sandusky  and  Kirby,  five  and  six 
miles  away,  were  the  centers  to  which  every- 
body went,  generally  on  Saturday  afternoon, 
when  friends  from  other  sections  of  the 
county  might  be  found  on  the  streets.  The 
boundaries  of  the  trade  center  were  thus 
much  larger  than  those  of  either  the  school 
or  the  church.  In  politics,  the  center  of  inter- 
est of  the  particular  township  with  which 
the  writer  was  concerned  was  the  old  school- 
house  turned  into  a  township  house  at  Mif- 
flin Center,  the  location  of  the  church  and 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         11 

school.  The  local  political  interests  of  the 
other  communities  mentioned  were  at  the 
appointed  places  in  the  respective  townships. 
The  seat  of  justice  was  for  some  time  in  the 
parlor  of  the  writer's  father's  residence,  or 
in  the  front  yard,  to  which  court  was  occa- 
sionally adjourned  when  weather  conditions 
permitted.  In  a  larger  way  county  courts 
were  held  at  the  county  seat,  as  were  other 
of  the  larger  political  activities. 

One  could  go  on  indefinitely  illustrating 
the  boundaries  of  interests  of  various  kinds. 
Some  of  them  centered  in  the  State  House ; 
others  in  the  national  Capitol;  and  many  a 
wordy  political  battle  was  fought  in  the  little 
country  section  over  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  protective  tariff  or  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  responsible  for  the  hard 
times  the  farmers  and  others  were  suffering. 
There  were  even  world  interests  involved, 
as  during  the  Spanish- American  War  or  the 
Venezuelan  difficulty  during  Cleveland's  ad- 
ministration. 

This  concrete  illustration  both  raises  the 
question,  Which  of  these  is  the  "commu- 
nity"? and  also  points  the  way  to  the  answer. 
None  of  the  groupings  mentioned  can  be 


12      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

considered  "the  community."  Yet  each  is 
"a  community."  A  "community"  is  a  psy- 
chical and  not  a  physical  thing.  It  can  only 
approximately  be  bounded  by  physical  lines. 
In  the  last  analysis  the  true  "community" 
is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  that  group  of 
two  or  more  individuals  who  are  bound  to- 
gether by  a  single  interest.  Thus  two  people 
living  within  sight  of  one  another  may  be 
members  of  the  same  religious  community 
and  at  the  same  time  be  absolutely  separated 
from  one  another  in  their  political  affiha- 
tions.  Also  one  person  can  at  the  same  time 
belong  to  many  "communities." 

But  this  definition,  if  adhered  to  strictly, 
would  lead  to  confusion  of  thought  perhaps 
more  serious  than  a  less  accurate  use  of  the 
term.  Careful  investigation  of  the  relation 
of  the  different  psychic  communities  to  one 
another  reveals  the  fact  that  geographically 
the  areas  of  individual  community  interest 
overlap  one  another;  and  that  in  the  better 
organized  regions  the  centers  of  interests  co- 
incide and  it  is  only  the  boundaries  of  the  sev- 
eral interests  that  are  not  coterminous.  The 
Mifflin  Center  illustration  given  above  is 
good  in  that  it  had  the  religious,  educational 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         13 

and  political  interests  centered  at  one  physi- 
cal spot.  The  social  and  recreational  life 
of  a  large  part  of  this  local  area  also  was 
centered  here.  In  the  other  local  groups 
mentioned  there  was  a  division  of  interest 
much  more  marked.  A  more  practical  defini- 
tion, then,  of  a  "community"  would  be 
"That  aggregation  of  population  which  is 
bound  together  by  a  predominating  propor- 
tion of  its  local  interests." 

If  this  definition  is  accepted,  then  an  in- 
spection of  almost  any  local  aggregation,  in 
the  open  country  at  least,  will  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  are  few  groups  of  peo- 
ple who  have  any  large  number  of  local  in- 
terests in  common.  Perhaps  the  most  pow- 
erful force  to  be  considered  in  determining 
what  is  an  open  country  community  is  that 
of  the  social  life.  People  in  a  given  section 
habitually  seek  those  with  whom  they  are 
best  acquainted  when  they  get  together  for 
social  affairs  of  interest  outside  the  family 
circle;  and  it  is  only  occasionally  that  the 
mass  will  go  out  of  these  habitual  associa- 
tions in  seeking  social  relaxation.  This  so- 
cial hfe  may  be  sought  at  one  time  in  the 
school,  at  another  in  the  church,  again  at  a 


14      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

picnic,  or  in  the  home  of  some  one  in  the 
"neighborhood."  But  the  dominating  fac- 
tor is  acquaintanceship  rather  than  rehgion 
or  education  or  business. 

Villages  are  more  easily  defined  as  to  the 
number  of  interests  holding  the  group 
together. 

One  principal  objective  in  the  modern  lo- 
cal community  organization  movement  seems 
to  be  to  bring  together  at  some  central  point 
the  focal  points  of  as  many  local  interests  as 
possible,  thus  strengthening  the  community 
bonds  and  increasing  the  community  con- 
sciousness. As  this  end  is  achieved  the  neces- 
sity for  the  strict  definition  given  above  dis- 
appears and  the  "community"  becomes  that 
aggregation  of  people  the  majority  of  whose 
local  interests  have  a  common  center.  This 
is  the  sense  in  which  the  term  will  be  used  in 
this  discussion. 

The  term  "rural"  likewise  conveys  a  dif- 
ferent thought  to  different  people.  Indeed, 
so  hkely  has  the  term  been  to  mislead  that  in 
a  recent  national  survey  of  religious  condi- 
tions, the  term  was  abandoned  and  "town 
and  country"  substituted.  The  simpler  plan 
is  to  arrive  at  a  definition  of  the  word  "rural" 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         15 

which  will  include  what  the  latter  term  con- 
notes. To  confuse  "rural"  with  "agricul- 
tural" is  to  ignore  both  the  past  and  the 
present  in  movements  of  population  and  in 
organization  of  interests.  To  an  increasing 
degree  the  interests  of  the  open  country  are 
centering  in  the  village,  or  even  larger  cen- 
ters. So  that  in  discussing  the  problems  of 
the  agricultural  population  it  is  often  nec- 
essary to  make  the  center  of  discussion  the 
organization  of  the  village  with  an  agricul- 
tural environment.  The  better  plan  is  to 
definitely  discuss  the  problems  of  the  open 
country  under  the  term  "agricultural"  and 
retain  the  other  term  for  all  interests  of 
groups  of  population  in  smaller  communi- 
ties, whether  in  the  open  country  or  in  the 
villages.  In  general,  the  division  of  the 
United  States  Census  will  be  observed  and 
the  term  "rural"  regularly  apphed  to  all 
groups  of  under  two  thousand  five  hundred 
population. 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  country  ministers 
an  attempt  was  made  to  define  what  is  the 
problem  of  the  rural  church.  The  definition 
as  framed  is  herewith  presented:  "The  rural 
task  of  the  church  is  the  nurture  and  devel- 


16      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

opment  of  all  phases  of  human  welfare  in 
those  communities  where  the  general  life  and 
thinking  of  the  people  are  related  to  matters 
which  pertain  to  material  natural  resources." 

This  definition  is  inadequate  from  the  ad- 
ministrative point  of  view  in  that  it  would 
exclude  the  small  manufacturing  commu- 
nity, the  educational  center,  the  summer  and 
winter  resort  communities,  and  similar  spe- 
cialized groups  where  population  is  small. 
The  problems  of  these  small  communities 
not  directly  related  to  material  natural  re- 
sources have  many  characteristics  in  com- 
mon with  those  included  in  the  above  defini- 
tion. Size  of  community  has  much  to  do 
with  the  type  of  problem  presented ;  and  the 
one  who  understands  the  problems  of  the 
agricultural  village  is  probably  better  able 
to  deal  with  the  problems  of  the  villages  of 
the  type  mentioned  than  is  the  one  trained 
for  service  in  a  metropolitan  center. 

The  term  "church"  is  here  used  in  the 
sense  of  including  all  religious  forces  in  rural 
life.  The  Sunday  School  Association,  the 
Christian  Associations,  Church  Federations, 
and  other  groups  alhed  to  the  church  are  in- 
cluded in  the  general  term. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         17 

The     Manifold     Functions     of     the 
Church 

The  church  is  the  only  agency  in  existence 
that  is  concerned  with  man  in  all  his  relation- 
ships. It  is  concerned  with  keeping  aUve  in 
human  consciousness  the  existence  of  a  Di- 
vine Being  and  of  man's  relationship  to  that 
Being.  It  is  the  only  agency  that  proceeds  on 
the  theory  of  the  immortahty  of  the  human 
soul  and  that  has  a  program  of  prepar- 
ing the  soul  for  a  life  after  death.  In  com- 
mon with  other  agencies  the  church  is  con- 
cerned with  the  individual  life  of  man  on  this 
earth  and  endeavors  to  lead  human  beings  to 
that  course  of  life  which  will  result  in  the 
maximum  of  personal  spiritual  welfare. 
And  in  common  with  other  agencies  it  is  con- 
cerned with  man  in  his  relations  to  others 
and  to  his  material  environment  because 
these  relationships  have  a  vital  effect  on  his 
spiritual  life. 

A  full  analysis  of  the  functions  of  the 
church  would  include  a  discussion  of  those 
features  of  church  work  which  have  to  do 
with  man's  relation  to  God  and  to  an  immor- 
tal existence.     But  in   a   discussion  of  the 


18      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

church  in  relation  to  the  community  it  is  not 
necessary  to  consider  man's  relation  to  God 
nor  to  a  future  life  except  in  so  far  as  beliefs 
in  such  relationships  influence  his  personal 
welfare  on  this  earth  or  his  relationships  to 
his  fellow  man.  Thus  this  discussion  falls  in 
the  field  of  sociology  rather  than  in  the  field 
of  theology  or  psychology.  A  casual  obser- 
vation of  the  forces  at  work  in  human  rela- 
tionships, especially  in  the  smaller  commu- 
nities, leads  quickly  to  the  conclusion  that 
beliefs  both  with  reference  to  God  and  to  a 
future  life  have  a  vital  effect  on  social  con- 
duct. But  it  is  the  effect  instead  of  the  truth 
of  beliefs  that  is  the  subject  matter  to  be 
considered. 

Having  thus  defined  the  field  of  our  dis- 
cussion both  as  to  subject  matter  and  as  to 
the  phase  of  the  interests  of  the  church  to 
be  considered,  it  is  next  in  order  to  note  the 
size  of  the  task. 

According  to  the  census  of  1920,  50,866,- 
899  people  in  the  United  States  hved  in 
rural  territory,  that  is,  in  communities  of 
less  than  2,500  population.  This  was  48.1 
per  cent  of  the  total.  For  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  country  the  records  showed 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         19 

a  larger  proportion  of  the  total  population 
living  in  urban  centers  than  in  villages  or  in 
the  open  country.  The  population  in  incor- 
porated villages  of  less  than  2,500  population 
was  9,864,196,  or  9.3  per  cent  of  the  total, 
while  that  in  unincorporated  or  open  coun- 
try communities  was  41,002,703  or  38.8  per 
cent,  as  compared  with  8.8  per  cent  and  44.8 
per  cent  respectively  in  1910. 

The  total  rural  population  increase  was 
but  1,518,986,  or  3.1  per  cent.  Incorpor- 
ated village  increase  was  1,745,371,  or  21.5 
per  cent,  while  the  unincorporated  commu- 
nity population  actually  decreased  227,355, 
or  .6  per  cent. 

These  figures  indicate  two  conclusions  of 
importance  to  our  discussion.  The  first  is 
that  the  villages  of  less  than  2,500  inhabi- 
tants are  sharing  with  the  large  centers  in 
the  general  increase  in  population.  Their 
increase  proportionately  is  not  so  marked  as 
is  that  of  the  extremely  large  centers,  but  it 
is  sufiiciently  marked  to  indicate  that  they 
offer  opportunities  that  attract  more  than 
does  the  open  country.  This  village  growth 
must  be  reckoned  with  in  determining  poh- 
cies  of  location  of  church  buildings  and  the 


20      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

type  of  local  church  program  for  community 
service. 

The  second  conclusion  is  that  the  open 
country  is  still  at  a  disadvantage  so  far  as 
its  possibilities  of  supporting  a  large  popu- 
lation are  concerned.  Actual  depopulation 
of  the  open  country,  the  enlargement  of  the 
size  of  farms,  the  abandonment  of  acreage 
once  under  cultivation,  which  preliminary 
figures  issued  by  the  Census  Bureau  indi- 
cate, show  that  not  yet  is  the  demand  for 
agricultural  products  such  as  to  make  a 
much  larger  open  country  population  pos- 
sible. This  fact  also  points  the  direction  for 
readjustment  of  rural  community  life. 

The  data  from  the  reUgious  census  of  the 
United  States,  taken  in  1916,  while  not  clas- 
sified as  rural  and  urban,  give  hopeful  fig- 
ures as  to  the  progress  of  religious  institu- 
tions in  this  country.  While  the  total  pop- 
ulation of  the  United  States  increased  dur- 
ing the  decade  1910-20,  14.9  per  cent,  the 
church  membership  from  1906-1916  in- 
creased 19.6  per  cent.  The  total  church 
membership  increase,  6,858,796,  was  50.2 
per  cent  of  13,710,842,  the  increase  in  total 
population.    These  figures  of  church  mem- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         21 

bership  increase,  covering  a  period  before 
the  European  war  began  to  affect  this  coun- 
try seriously,  indicate  that  the  general  ris- 
ing ethical  standards  of  American  life  have 
had  their  reflection  in  the  larger  personal  as 
well  as  financial  support  of  the  religious 
forces. 

While  data  are  not  available  as  to  the  pro- 
portion of  rural  and  urban  population  be- 
longing to  church,  the  census  gives  figures 
as  to  the  church  membership  in  communities 
of  over  25,000  population.  According  to 
census  estimates,  32.7  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation lived  in  cities  of  over  that  population 
in  1916.  The  religious  census  shows  that 
36.5  per  cent  of  the  church  membership  lived 
in  communities  of  that  size.  Contrary  to 
popular  impression,  the  larger  centers  actu- 
ally have  a  larger  proportionate  church 
membership  than  do  the  smaller  communi- 
ties. The  facts  show  that  the  problem  of 
advance  of  the  Christian  Church  is  more  of 
a  small-community  problem  than  it  is  of  the 
larger  centers. 

While  the  proportion  of  the  total  popula- 
tion belonging  to  church  increased  from  38.1 
per  cent  in  1906  as  compared  with  the  1910 


22      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

population  to  39.6  per  cent  in  1916  as  com- 
pared with  the  1920  population,  the  magni- 
tude of  the  unfinished  task  is  still  almost 
staggering.  If  the  proportion  for  rural 
America  were  the  same  as  for  the  country 
as  a  whole,  there  would  be  20,143,292  people 
not  belonging  to  church.  Church  member- 
ship, of  course,  is  not  the  only  criterion  of 
the  influence  of  the  church;  nor  would  all 
denominations  admit  that  all  the  people 
should  belong  to  church,  since  some  would 
not  accept  children  not  yet  having  reached 
the  age  of  accountability.  But  in  any  case 
Christian  America  is  not  Christian  even  in 
church  membership.  This  does  not  take  into 
account  matters  of  social  and  economic  rela- 
tionships which  the  spirit  of  Christianity  has 
not  yet  penetrated  and  by  which  church 
members  as  well  as  nonmembers  are  bound. 
More  than  50,000,000  rural  folk  rising  to 
a  consciousness  of  their  inherent  solidarity 
and  community  of  interest,  and  more  than 
20,000,000  of  these  not  affiliated  with  any 
religious  organization,  present  a  challenge 
for  trained  leadership  unequaled  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  Urban  interests  have 
grown  powerful.    Urban  life  has  rapidly  ad- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         23 

vanced  for  at  least  the  more  favored  groups 
until  it  has  far  outstripped  conditions  in 
rural  communities  that  go  to  make  up  the 
best  in  modern  civilization  and  culture. 
Germs  have  been  found  in  the  "Old  Oaken 
Bucket"  in  the  country,  while  the  scourge  of 
typhoid  has  been  banished  from  the  city,  and 
the  "Church  in  the  Dell"  has  crumbled  in 
decay,  while  the  metropolitan  pulpit  has 
taken  the  best  leadership  for  its  own.  The 
country  has  been  unable  to  compete  with 
the  urban  centers  for  educational,  religious, 
or  social  leadership  because  wealth  has  ac- 
cumulated in  the  cities.  Rural  population 
has  declined  because  the  prizes  in  wealth  ac- 
cimiulation  were  in  the  cities  and  because  it 
was  easier  to  secure  those  things  there  that 
people  have  learned  to  value  as  most  worth 
while,  in  good  housing,  medical  attendance, 
education,  and  recreation.  While  city  poets 
have  sung  the  praises  of  country  life,  many 
people  who  have  lived  in  the  country  and  en- 
dured the  long  hours  and  little  pay  from  hus- 
bandry have,  like  the  Arab,  folded  their 
tents  and  slipped  away ;  and  when  once  they 
have  tasted  the  advantages  of  urban  life, 
have  not  returned. 


24      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

No  civilization  can  be  wholesome  or  per- 
manent so  long  as  any  one  great  group  is 
permanently  handicapped  in  its  struggle  for 
economic  or  social  welfare.  So  long  as  any 
group  is  evidently  at  a  disadvantage  the  shift 
of  population  from  the  less-favored  to  the 
better-favored  groups  will  continue;  that  is, 
unless  castes  are  formed  which  compel  peo- 
ple to  remain  permanently  in  one  group  or 
the  other.  And  this  does  not  happen  in  mod- 
ern democratic  society.  And  so  long  as  there 
is  a  continuous  shift  of  population  in  one 
direction  or  another  we  have  evidence  that 
conditions  are  such  as  to  induce  the  shift. 

It  is  the  existence  of  conditions  such  as 
these  that  makes  the  challenge  for  a  trained 
loyal  service  on  the  part  of  those  selected  to 
attend  to  matters  concerned  with  rural 
public  welfare. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  following  pages 
to  outhne  briefly  some  of  the  conditions  to 
which  the  church  must  give  attention  if  it 
is  to  meet  the  demand  now  made  upon  it  by 
modern  rural  life.  It  is  not  intended  to  be 
a  treatise  on  practical  theology  in  the  sense 
ordinarily  accepted  in  courses  on  that  sub- 
ject.   Very  little  attention  will  be  given  to 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         25 

matters  of  organization  or  administration  of 
the  local  church.  It  is  believed  that  if  only- 
ministers  of  the  gospel  can  once  attain  an 
adequate  grasp  of  the  purposes  of  religious 
service,  the  matter  of  method  of  accomplish- 
ing results  may  be  left  largely  to  the  pastors 
themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  emphasis 
upon  method,  which  seems  to  be  demanded 
by  many  ministers  instead  of  knowledge  of 
ends  to  be  attained,  is  more  than  likely  to 
lead  to  overorganization,  or  organization 
not  adapted  to  objectives.  One  of  the  essen- 
tials in  all  leadership  is  that  of  having  defi- 
nite objectives  toward  which  to  work,  and 
it  is  the  purpose  of  this  text  to  call  the  atten- 
tion to  objectives  and  to  organization,  both 
local  and  general,  adapted  to  the  attainment 
of  objectives  rather  than  the  methods  of 
attaining  them. 


26      CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    BASIS     FOR     COMMUNITY 
SERVICE 

!  The  past  few  years  have  witnessed  a 
marked  widening  of  the  concept  of  the  func- 
tioning of  the  church.l  But  there  is  still  con- 
siderable question  concerning  the  basis  for 
the  program  of  church  work  that  now  bids 
fair  to  become  conventional.  Not  long  ago 
the  writer  attended  a  convention  of  a  state 
social  welfare  association.  Over  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  persons  were  in  attendance 
representing  the  leading  agencies  for  the 
advance  of  social  welfare  in  the  entire  com- 
monwealth, both  urban  and  rural.  Careful 
inquiry  revealed  the  fact  that  but  one  minis- 
ter had  registered,  and  he  was  on  the  pro- 
gram. On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  rare  oc- 
currence for  those  professionally  interested 
in  social  service  to  be  present  at  a  convention 
of  representatives  of  religious  orders.  In 
practice  there  ii^  still  a  clean-cut  dividing  line 
between  those  interested  in  social  progress 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         27 

]  and  those  engaged  in  so-called  religious 
I  work.  The  social  workers  are  not  irreli- 
gious ;  many  of  them  believe  their  service  to 
be  of  the  highest  type  of  rehgious  expres- 
sion. The  representatives  of  the  church  are 
welcqnjj^d  by  social  workers  into  their  coun- 
cils, but  it  is  feared  that  often  these  repre- 
sentatives are  not  taken  seriously  because 
for  so  long  they  have  had  a  program  that 
affected  social  welfare  in  but  an  indirect 
way.  The  time  has  come  when  representa- 
tives of  the  church  should  accept  their  right- 
ful position  as  leaders  in  all  movements  that 
tend  to  make  human  existence  more  Christ- 
like and  to  make  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth  more  of  a  reality. 

The  reason  for  the  attitude  of  both  minis- 
ters and  people  toward  the  church  has  been 
the  emphasis  placed  upon  individual  regen- 
eration as  the  sole  and  all-important  method 
of  advancing  the  Kingdom.^ The  "conver- 
sion" of  the  individual  would  lead  him  into 
right  conduct.  When  all  individuals  were 
converted  then  the  kingdom  of  heaven  would 
indeed  be  at  hand. 

\  But  the  advance  of  social  science  has  made 
clear  the  fact  that  the  individual    is    very 


28      CHURCH  COOPERATIOTsT 

largely  the  expression  of  the  group  in  which  * 
he  lives,  i  Custom,  convention,  fashion,  pub- 
lic opinion,  and  other  group  influences  go 
far  to  determine  what  individual  thought  and 
action  will  be  in  any  given  group.  The  Ten- 
nessee mountaineer  has  a  different  standard 
of  what  constitutes  true  religion  from  that 
of  the  New  England  Unitarian.  The  code 
of  race  relationships  in  Mississippi  is  not  the 
same  as  that  in  Wisconsin.  The  standards 
of  the  boy's  "gang"  determine  largely  the  ^ 
di-ess,  the  ideals,  and  habits  not  only  of 
youth  but  of  the  coming  man.  Even  in  the 
life  of  the  individual  different  standards  ex- 
ist suitable  to  the  several  groups  in  which 
he  carries  on  his  habitual  activities.  The 
capitalist  who  corrupts  Legislatures  with  im- 
punity in  business  or  who  prevents  child- 
labor  legislation  may  be  a  model  Christian 
gentleman  in  his  home  and  church  life. 

It  is  admitted  that  in  the  last  analysislthe 
group  mind  can  have  its  existence  only  in  the 
individual  minds  that  compose  it/'  But  it  is 
also  true  that  when  we  consider  the  minds  of 
individuals  working  in  groups  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  what  the  reactions  of  others 
are,  the  results  are  different  from  what  they 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         29 

are  when  the  individual  acts  alone.  ^More- 
over, individuals  as  a  class  react  in  much 
the  same  way  to  stimuK  that  affect  all  of  the 
members  of  the  group  at  a  given  time.j  If 
the  price  of  milk  is  raised  so  that  there  is  sus- 
picion of  profiteering,  common  resentment 
appears.  If  the  leadership  of  a  political 
party  is  threatened,  the  politician,  even 
though  he  loses  leadership,  rarely  bolts  his 
group.  Instead  he  finds  some  excuse  for 
standing  by  the  party  organization.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  alter  the  minds  of  all  indi- 
viduals by  "conversion"  in  the  conventional 
manner  either  to  change  public  opinion,  alter 
physical  conditions,  or  change  the  form  of 
social  organization.  When  these  changes 
are  effected  in  the  minds  of  the  controlling 
eleinents  of  the  group,  then  the  entire  public 
mind  and  social  organization  are  altered  and 
the  social  process  goes  on  stimulated  in  newer 
and,  it  is  hoped,  better  directions. 

One  or  two  illustrations  should  make  this 
point  clearer.  Several  years  ago  it  was  the 
custom  to  use  common  drinking  cups  on  rail- 
ways. When  first  legislation  was  passed  to 
prevent  such  use,  considerable  public  opin- 
ion opposed  it  as  foolish.    Now,  it  is  difficult 


30      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

to  get  any  one  to  touch  a  common  drinking 
cup  even  in  the  home.  Before  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  saloon  powerful  and  sometimes 
very  respectable  forces  were  lined  up  in  fa- 
vor of  its  continuance.  But  as  soon  as  the 
fight  against  the  saloon  had  been  carried  to 
the  point  of  its  legal  elimination  many  of 
those  who  once  supported  the  barroom  be- 
cause of  the  profit  to  them  became  its  oppo- 
nents. Formerly  the  saloon  was  a  center  for 
the  corruption  of  many  if  not  most  of  the 
youth  in  the  community.  Now,  most  com- 
munities are  bringing  up  a  far  higher  grade 
of  young  people  morally  than  they  once 
were  because  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to 
fight  against  this  center  of  immoral 
infection. 

The  lesson  these  illustrations  should  teach ^ 
is  this:  thaljthe  conventional  method  used  by 
the  churches  during  the  past  half  century  of 
depending  almost  entirely  upon  individual 
A^  regeneration  through  personal  appeal  as  a 
means  of  salvation  of  the  race  has  handi- 
capped the  church  and  limited  its  effective- 
ness.^When  it  is  once  understood  that  the 
mind  and  the  character  of  the  individual  can 
be  influenced  in  as  many  ways  as  there  are 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         31 

social  contacts,  and  when  the  means  of  ap- 
proach through  all  these  contacts  is  under- 
stood, then  the  effectiveness  of  the  church 
will  be  immeasurably  increased.  Social  life 
must  be  saved  not  only  through  individual 
regeneration  but  also  through  the  estabUsh- 
ment  of  a  right  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
dividual and  as  many  individuals  as  possible^ 
On  the  other  hand,  individual  attitudes  can 
be  estabhshed  in  large  part  by  bringing 
about,  through  means  now  fairly  well  un- 
derstood, good  economic  conditions  and  so-i 
cial  organization. 

The  sad  part  about  the  traditional  limited 
method  of  approach  to  improvement  of 
group  life  has  been  that  in  probably  the 
majority  of  cases  impulses  were  aroused  by 
personal  appeal  to  do  good  and  then  through 
ignorance  of  objectives  in  group  advance 
those  impulses  were  allowed  to  die.  The 
"backslider"  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
results  of  periodic  renewal  of  impulse  to 
right  living.  In  most  other  cases  the  im- 
pulses thus  aroused  have  found  their  expres- 
sion in  a  hypersensitiveness  in  regard  to  cer- 
tain phases  of  personal  conduct.  Emphasis 
upon  personal  moral  conduct  to  the  exclu- 


32      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

sion  of  effective  interest  in  social  progress 
characterized  much  of  the  product  of  the  per- 
sonal evangehstic  campaigns  carried  on  peri- 
odically during  the  past  two  or  three  genera- 
tions, while  the  real  work  of  making  the 
world  better  has  been  directed  by  men  and 
women  not  particularly  subject  to  these  peri- 
odical waves  of  rehgious  impulses  but  im- 
bued with  a  steady  abiding  faith  in  the  worth 
of  social  action.  They  have  had  the  good 
impulses,  but  these  impulses  have  been  stead- 
ied and  rendered  permanently  valuablie  be- 
cause faith  based  on  knowledge  of  objectives 
was  available. 

^  |«  If  the  serious  errors  of  the  past  are  to  be 
avoided  it  will  be  necessary  for  those  in- 
trusted with  responsibilities  of  church  lead- 
ership to  vastly  increase  their  knowledge  of 
problems  of  group  life  and  of  methods  of 
\pontrol  of  group  life.  \  The  following  pages 
are  designed  to  aid  the  prospective  religious 
leader,  either  professional  or  lay,  as  far  as 
possible  in  understanding  some  of  the  prob- 
lems that  must  be  dealt  with  in  making 
human  life  what  Christianity  hopes  for.  Re- 
sults already  have  been  achieved  sufficient  to 
place  beyond  question  the  principle  that  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         33 

church  must  approach  life  from  every  pos- 
sible angle.  The  effort  to  produce  right  atti- 
tudes in  the  individual  must  be  continued, 
but  the  methods  used  must  be  varied  and 
multiplied. 

Furthermore,  before  the  sound  point  af 
view  with  reference  to' the  method  of  ap- 
proach to  the  problems  of  the  church  can 
be  obtained|it  will  be  necessary  to  have  a 
clear  understanding  as  to  the  place  of  the 
child  in  the  moral  order.  |  Those  who  derive 
their  theology  by  reading  and  interpreting 
isolated  passages  of  the  Scriptures  some- 
times arrive  at  unexpected,  and,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  rational  living,  eccentric 
and  positively  harmful  conclusions.  Some 
devoted  readers  find  in  the  writings  of  Paul 
something  about  "Whereas  in  Adam  all  die, 
in  Christ  all  are  made  alive" ;  and  in  Christ's 
words  the  utterance  to  Nicodemus,  "Except 
a  man  be  born  again  he  shall  not  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  They  have  drawn 
from  these  doctrines  that  all  men  are  born 
with  sin  inherent  in  their  natures  and  that 
there  is  no  good  in  the  soul  until  "conver- 
sion" has  taken  place.  So  long  as  these  doc^ 
trines  find  a  place  in  the  preaching  and  prac- 


34      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

tice  of  churches  the  method  of  world 
salvation  will  be  radically  different  from  that 
for  which  the  writer  is  contending. 

In  brief,  if  the  words  of  Christ  are  taken 
at  their  face  value  when  he  said  "Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  for  of  such 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  we  have  an  en- 
tirely different  basis  of  approach  to  our  prob- 
lem than  if  we  assume  that  all  are  lost  except 
those  upon  whom  the  mystical  influence  of 
"conversion"  in  the  traditional  sense  has 
operated.  If  the  assumption  that  children 
are  born  good  is  accepted,  then  we  are 
brought  to  the  question,  "How  may  these 
innocents  be  kept  so?"  The  answer  is,  By 
training  them  to  control  their  natural  im- 
pulses, good  in  themselves  but  Ukely  to  lead 
into  wrong  if  not  properly  directed ;  and  by 
cultivating  the  natural  tendencies  to  good 
that  find  expression  in  every  normal  child.' 
They  must  also  be  brought  to  an  understand- 
ing of  what  Christ  means  to  them  as  their 
Saviour  and  Guide.  Then  this  must  be  sup- 
plemented as  rapidly  as  possible  by  the  or- 
ganization of  group  life  in  such  a  way  that 
evil  influences  will  be  eliminated. 

The  saloon  was  not  many  years  ago  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         35 

center  of  corruption  of  thousands — ^yes,  mil- 
lions— of  the  growing  youth  of  this  country. 
V  The  elimination  of  the  saloon  has  made  pos- 
sible the  development  of  millions  of  young 
people  free  from  the  particular  type  of  sin- 
fulness for  which  the  saloon  was  responsible. 
In  like  manner /the  elimination  of  commer- 
cialized vice  has  rendered  our  cities  incom- 
parably safer  for  our  young  men  and  women 
than  they  once  were.  The  substitution  pf 
wholesome  amusement  for  young  folks  in 
good  environment  for  the  unregulated  com- 
merciaUzed  amusements  once  the  sole  source 
of  recreation  has  exerted  a  moral  influence 
too  far-reaching  to  be  estimated.  The  intro- 
duction of  cooperation  in  industry  has  elim- 
inated the  sin  accompanying  the  fights  be- 
tween capital  and  labor  in  those  industries 
where  it  has  been  introduced.  These  illus- 
trations show  how  it  is  possible,  by  continu- 
ing the  improvement  of  social  and  economic 
conditions  to  create  such  an  environment  as 
will  destroy  the  sources  of  individual  corrup- 
tion and  degeneration  and  will  make  the 
growth  of  the  child  a  continuous  succession 
of  stages  of  spiritual  improvement  and 
growth.     i"Conversion"   can  thus   conceiv- 


36      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

ably  become  a  conscious  personal  acceptance 
of  Christ  and  of  the  principles  of  Christian- 
ity as  the  normal  basis  for  right  living  with- 
out a  noticeable  break  in  the  course  or  direc- 
tion of  life  rather  than  the  intense  emotional 
cataclysm  that  so  often  characterized  the 
change  in  hardened  sinners. 
-  When  children  good  by  nature  are 
brought  up  in  an  environment  physical  and 
spiritual  that  has  been  brought  into  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  God,  then  the  problems  of 
evil  will  be  reduced  to  those  arising  out  of 
natural  causes  over  which  man  has  not 
achieved  control ;  and  children  will  be  looked 
upon  as  the  natural  and  rightful  members  of 
the  church  instead  of  being  kept  out  of  the 
church  until  they  reach  the  age  of  account- 
ability.    The  burden  of  getting  out  of  the 

^  church  should  be  put  on  the  child  instead  of 
the  usual  responsibility  of  deciding  to  come 
into  it. 

It  is  customary  for  leaders  of  the  church      ^ 
to  assume  credit  for  practically  all  the  good 
things  going  on  in  the  direction  of  human 

.  improvement  by  assuming  that,  though  the 
church  does  not  have  a  large  membership, 
comparatively  speaking,  its  influence  has  in- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         37 

spired  the  good  work  being  done  in  social 
progress.  It  is  well  to  face  frankly  the  fact 
that,  whatever  may  have  been  the  situation 
in  the  past,  at  the  present  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  church  has  been  the  source  of 
even  the  larger  portion  of  this  inspiration.* 
I  The  public  schools,  including  the  higher  in-^^ 
stitutions  of  learning,  have  been  socializing 
the  future  leaders  in  social  progress  so  that 
their  inspiration  has  been  drawn  from  a  con- 
crete knowledge  of  social  problems  and  from 
the  belief  that  humanity  can,  by  proper  ef- 
fort, control  conditions  of  living.;  Then 
pragmatic  results  have  furthered  this  belief 
until  inspiration  has  come  from  the  achieve- 
ment of  results  themselves  rather  than  from 
any  recognition  of  Christian  influence  in  so- 
cial life.  The  Christian  religion  is  doubtless 
responsible  for  those  things  most  worth 
while  in  modern  life,  but  other  sources  of  *- 
inspiration  have  developed  for  which  Chris- 
tianity does  not  get  the  credit. 

iThe  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is  that    ^ 
in^  the  past  two  or  three  generations  two 
marked  divisions  have  grown  up,  the  one 
a  section  or  wing  inside  the  church  which  has 
placed  sole  emphasis  upon  individual  regen- 


38      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

eration  as  the  method  of  social  progress ;  the  •- 
other  largely  outside  the  church,  with  em- 
phasis upon  social  reform  as  the  method  of 
advance.  I  What  is  needed  is  a  widening  of 
the  field  so  that  the  methods  of  social  im- 
provement proved  to  be  of  value  by  social 
workers  will  be  adopted  as  valid  methods  of 
bringing  about  the  kingdom  of  God.  On  the 
other  hand,  social  workers  must  give  more 
attention  to  the  regeneration  of  the  individ- 
ual. When  each  of  these  groups  recognizes 
the  value  of  the  program  of  the  other,  then  it 
will  be  difficult  to  distinguish  longer  between 
churchmen  and  social  workers.  The  two 
groups  will,  in  fact,  join  hands,  and  by  uni- 
fying and  coordinating  efforts  will  work 
Imore  effectively  in  attaining  a  common  aim. 
The  basis,  then,  for  the  program  for  the 
church  which  will  touch  all  phases  of  human 
linterest  in  a  vital  way  is  that  every  human 
Interest  has  its  effect  on  the  welfare  of  the 
poul.  I  And  a  program  that  fails  to  take  into 
pccount  every  approach  to  the  individual  can 
at  least  be  but  partial. 
u  Again,  it  will  be  necessary  to  revise  popu- 
lar impression  as  to  just  what  is  spiritual. V 
The  farmer  who  after  having  a  most  unusual 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         39 

"spiritual  experience"  at  a  revival  service 
angrily  opposed  a  local  movement  for  con- 
solidation of  schools  because  such  a  move 
would  increase  taxes  had  an  idea  of  religion 
that  was  strictly  personal — and  anti-social. 
The  church  leader  who  feared  that  the  en- 
couragement of  social-center  activities  by  the 
church  would  ultimately  result  in  a  condition 
in  which  the  social  activities  of  the  church 
would  overshadow  the  "spiritual,"  had  in 
mind  a  distinction  that  must  be  met  and  un- 
derstood if  the  church  is  to  broaden  its  pro- 
gram without  losing  its  identity  as  a  religious 
institution.  The  minister  who,  while  prais- 
ing a  community-club  movement  which  had 
brought  to  the  community  many  improve- 
ments and  a  better  moral  condition,  stated 
that  it  was  injuring  the  "church,"  either  saw 
a  real  conflict  between  "spiritual"  and  "so- 
cial" welfare  or  had  a  misconception  as  to 
what  is  spiritual. 

The  problem  seems  to  arise  out  of  a  ten- 
dency which  has  crept  into  theological  y 
thought  to  limit  "spiritual"  things  to  mysti- 
cal personal  experiences.  With  this  defini- 
tion of  spiritual  things  there  seems  to  have 
come  a  tendency  to  look  upon  any  type  of 


40      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

activity  that  was  of  a  practical  nature,  such 
as  providing  for  the  recreational  needs  of 
the  community,  organizing  a  campaign  for 
better  reading  facilities  for  country  people, 
or  for  better  farming,  as  not  spiritual,  and 
consequently  to  be  sedulously  avoided  by  the 
church.  Perhaps  there  is  no  thought  in 
American  rural  life  to-day  that  causes  more 
trouble  to  the  aggressive  rural  minister  of 
the  modern  type  than  this.  His  young  men 
and  women  want  to  broaden  the  scope  of  the 
/church,  but  the  trustees,  and  those  whose 
word  counts  toward  the  selection  of  pastors 
and  their  removal,  often  oppose  anjrthing 
being  done  by  the  church  which  is  not  cus- 
tomary and  accordingly,  as  they  think,  not 
spiritual. 

Christ  said  "I  am  come  that  ye  might  have 
life,  and  have  it  more  abundantly."  If  this 
statement  is  accepted  at  its  face  value,  then 
we  have  the  foundation  for  judging  every 
activity  in  which  the  church  may  partake. 

(Does  the  activity  tend  to  increase  the  ma- 
terial and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nity, so  that  the  influences  that  tend  to  the 
extermination  of  the  group  are  less?  If  so, 
then  it  conforms  to  the  purposes  of  the  com- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         41 

ing  of  the  Christ.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  ac- 
tivity does  positively  lessen  the  resistance  of 
the  community,  reducing  it  ultimately  to  a 
lower  scale  of  living  characterized  by  those 
thing*'  that  are  recognized  as  harmful,  then 
it  is  not  a  legitimate  part  of  church  work. 
It  also  follows  that  if  such  harmful  condi- 
tions exist  in  the  community  without  a  pro- 
test on  the  part  of  the  church  or  without 
some  definite  effort  to  eliminate  them,  then 
the  church  is  not  living  up  to  the  high  calling 
expected  of  it  by  the  Master.  fThe  term 
"spiritual"  is,  accordingly,  much  more  in- 
clusive than  has  been  popularly  supposed,  a 
and  one  of  the  great  contributions  of  social 
science  during  the  past  few  decades  has  been 
to  bring  to  the  public  mind  the  knowledge 
that  man  and  his  spirituality  cannot  be  dealt  * 
with  individually  but  must  be  included  in 
all  those  relationships  that  affect  the  soul  of 
the  individual. 

While  the  succeeding  pages  have  to  do 
with  the  social  aspects  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
man  J  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  re- 
generation or  the  quickening  of  the  individ- 
ual is  at  least  half  of  the  task  in  community 
progress.  /The  life  of  the  honest,  upright 


42      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

man,  whose  soul  has  been  set  on  fire  by  con- 
tact with  the  flame  of  divine  love,  whose 
heart  has  been  brought  into  harmony  with 
the  divine  will  of  God,  becomes  in  itself  a 
point  forithe  radiation  of  impulses  for  right 
living,  ^nd  when  these  impulses  are  di- 
rected  into  useful  channels  through  a  broad- 
ened understanding  of  sound  objectives  in 
social  progress,  then  real  advance  is. 
possible.  ^  / 

There  are  many  other  phases  of  thought 
that  act  as  a  hindrance  to  the  advance  of  the 
spiritual  kingdom  in  nu'al  America,  but 
these  illustrations  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
what  must  be  cleared  away  before  the  broad 
program  of  the  modern  rural  church  can  be 
whole-heartedly  accepted.  In  fairness  to 
the  writer  it  should  be  kept  in  mind,  as 
stated  in  the  definitions  given  at  the  opening, 
that  this  text  has  nothing  to  do  with  those 
vital  elements  of  religious  organization  and 
service  which  are  intended  to  keep  alive 
man's  belief  in  a  divinity  and  in  immortal- 
ity except  in  so  far  as  these  beliefs  affect 
community  relationships.  The  discussion 
of  these  subjects  falls,  rather,  into  the  realm 
of  theology.     It  is  hoped  that  at  least  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE  43 

principles  underlying  the  movement  toward 
broadening  the  program  of  the  rural  church 
have  been  clearly,  if  briefly,  stated,  and  that 
the  movement  toward  a  larger  concept  of  the 
religious  forces  as  a  factor  in  rural  progress 
will  continue  to  spread  at  an  accelerating 
speed. 


44      CHURCH  COOPERATION 


^ 


CHAPTER  III 

THE      ECONOMIC      CHALLENGE 
TO    THE    CHURCH 

As  one  travels  through  the  rural  districts 
i  of  America  and  observes  differences  in  the 
standards  of  living  he  is  convinced  that 
I  human  welfare  depends  very  largely  on  eco- 
nomic conditions.  The  broad,  well-tilled 
fields  of  Iowa,  surrounding  large,  well-built 
houses,  big  red  barns  and  other  outbuildings, 
form  a  marked  contrast  with  the  patches  of 
corn  in  irregular  fields  cleared  from  the 
brush  and  scrub  trees  on  hillsides  in  Tennes- 
see or  Kentucky,  and  the  hovels  and  run- 
down farm  buildings  which  go  under  the 
name  of  homes  for  the  hill  people.  Healthy, 
well-dressed,  happy  children  attending  good 
schools  of  the  most  modern  type  in  the  corn 
belt  undoubtedly  have  the  advantage  of  the 
boys  and  girls  in  the  hills  who  often  do  not 
learn  to  read  and  write  before  they  are  ten 
years  old,  if  at  all,  and  when  they  do  go  to 
school  must  be  taught  by  poorly  trained 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         45 

teachers  for  short  terms,  ending  before  the 
holidays,  and  in  one-room  schools  often 
attended  by  nearly  a  hundred  children.  Reli- 
gious service  and  leadership  in  the  one  sec- 
tion under  the  direction  of  college  and  theo- 
logical seminary  men  can  hardly  be  put  in 
the  same  class  with  the  highly  emotional  ex- 
pression of  religious  impulses  of  the  moun- 
tain section  led  by  once-a-month  absentee 
pastors  with  no  education,  or,  worse  still,  by 
wandering  so-called  evangelists  of  doubtful 
morality.  One  could  go  through  the  whole 
list  of  contrasts  between  the  economically 
well-favored  sections  of  the  country  and  the 
less  favored  agricultural  sections  and  in  no 
way  would  the  advantage  be  on  the  side  of 
the  latter. 

Efficient  social  and  reUgious  institutions 
cannot  be  built  on  poor  economic  founda-^'^^7^*f3 
tions.     So  long  as  a  section  of  the  country  • 

cannot  afford  to  pay  more  than  five  hundred 
dollars  per  year  for  teachers  or  preachers,  it  ^ 
cannot  hope  to  have  the  leadership  possible 
to  another  section  where  ministers  to  rural 
people  can  easily  secure  eighteen  hundred  to 
three  thousand  dollars  per  year.  Good  build- 
ings cannot  be  erected,  nor  can  any  of  the 


46      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

material  comforts  which  go  to  make  up  the 
foundation  of  civilized  life  be  enjoyed. 
1  For  the  sake  of  the  church,  as  well  as  the 

V  people,  the  church  must  attend  to  the  eco- 
nomic foundations  of  rural  life.  '  It  is  unfor- 
tunate for  many  parts  of  the  United  States 

1  that  the  ministry  has  become  so  separated 
from  real  life  by  the  mystical  trend  in  reli- 
gion that  it  has  rendered  practically  no  serv- 
ice in  laying  the  foundations  for  the  contin- 
uance of  the  communities  themselves. 
/      The  shift  of  population  from  rural  to  ur- 

V  ban  centers  which  the  census  records  show 
has  continued,  if  anything,  at  an  accelerated 
speed,  indicates  the  seriousness  of  the  prob- 
lem. A  part  of  the  shift  is  doubtless  due  to 
improvements  made  in  methods  of  produc- 
tion.   So  far  as  this  is  the  cause  there  is  no 

reason  to  be  disturbed  over  the  tendency,  as 
it  is  useless  to  try  to  keep  young  men  and 
women  in  an  occupation  that  does  not  offer 
opportunity  for  earning  a  living.  Part  of 
^  the  shift  may  be  due  to  the  living  conditions 
in  the  country.  This  is  but  an  indication  of 
the  task  of  the  church  on  the  social  side  and 
can  be  changed  as  economic  welfare  permits. 
But  the  fact  that  rural  population  has  been 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         47 

leaving  the  farms  and  that  agricultural  lands 
have  been  abandoned  by  thousands  of  acres, 
indicates  that  urban  opportunities  have  far 
outbid  the  rural  in  financial  returns,  variety 
of  openings,  and  in  working  conditions. 
The  farmer's  income  must  be  increased  as  *^ 
compared  with  other  groups  before  there 
can  be  a  well-balanced  relatively  stable 
American  life.  Until  this  is  achieved  those 
who  are  trying  to  build  up  rural  institutions 
as  strong  as  those  in  urban,  centers  will  be 
engaged  in  a  hopeless  task. 

Eminent,  conscientious  Christian  gentle- 
men, leaders  in  religious  thought,  and  occa- 
sionally country  ministers,  have  accused 
those  who  maintain  that  the  church  should 
have  a  vital  active  interest  in  improving  eco- 
nomic welfare  of  trying  to  make  hog-cholera 
experts  out  of  preachers,  thus  taking  them 
away  from  their  real  tasks,  /it  is  believed 
that  knowledge  of  hog  cholera  and  of  the 
agencies  that  can  help  the  farmer  to  prevent  i^ 
it  will  not  injure  the  standing  of  any  rural 
minister.  It  is  maintained  with  reference  to 
care  for  economic  welfare  that/it  is  the  busi- 
ness of  the  church  tp  encourage  economic  im- 
provement so  far  as  possible  (1)  by  giving 


48      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

advice  and  assisting  in  demonstration  work 
when  no  other  organized  agency  is  in  a  posi- 
tion to  render  this  service,  and  (2)  by  open- 
ing the  way  to  other  organized  agencies  to 
perform  this  service.  IThis  is  the  prime  bus- 
iness of  the  agricultural  colleges  through 
their  extension  service.  But  it  has  been  the 
experience  of  agricultural  colleges  that  they 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  establishing 
relationships  in  those  agricultural  sections 
where  their  service  is  needed  the  most.  The 
minister  of  the  gospel,  being  one  of  the  two 
or  three  paid  leaders  in  a  local  conmiunity, 
enjoying  a  measure  of  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  and  having  a  large  part  of  his  time 
available  for  pastoral  duties,  has  the  oppor- 
tunity and  the  obligation  to  tactfully  bring 
to  the  community  the  assistance  of  these 
other  agencies  now  provided  by  the  State. 
When  he  has  done  this  he  can  rest  assured 
that  he  has  accomplished  something  that  will 
become  the  foundation  for  a  far  higher, 
more  satisfying  rural  life. 
J^  Although  ultimately  the  problem  of  pro- 
duction in  agriculture  will  probably  be  a 
most  serious  one,  because  of  influences  such 
as  soil-mining,  deforestation,  and  depletion 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         49 

of  soil  through  erosion,  the  immediate  prob- 
lems are,  rather,  the  adjustment  of  produc- 
tion to  demand  so  that  the  farmer  will  be  on 
a  more  equitable  income  basis  with  other  ele- 
ments in  the  population.  When  there  is 
newspaper  talk  of  again  burning  corn  for 
fuel,  when  wool  is  a  drug  on  the  market,  and 
when  farmers'  organizations  are  urging  the 
decrease  in  the  acreage  of  cotton,  it  is  idle  to 
talk  of  agricultiu-al  welfare  being  synony- 
mous with  ability  to  increase  crop  acreage  or 
production  per  acre.  Agricultural  colleges 
and  other  State  agencies  have  devoted  the 
large  part  of  their  efforts  to  study  of  prob- 
lems of  production.  The  results  of  their 
services  to  date  have  been  to  so  improve  pro- 
duction as  to  hasten  the  population  move- 
ment from  the  farms  to  the  cities.  This 
tendency  to  aid  production  to  the  point  of  ex- 
ceeding equitable  demand  has  been  of  eco- 
nomic value  to  the  great  centers  but  it  has 
not  encouraged  the  continuance  on  the  farm 
of  a  large  population,  nor  has  it  enabled  the 
farmer  to  compete  with  the  townsman  in 
maintaining  a  satisfactory  standard  of  liv- 
ing. It  would  seem  that  the  producing 
ability  of  the  farmer  has  been  his  misfortune. 


50      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

and  that  his  friends  who  have  taught  him  to 
produce  more  have  been  his  worst  enemies. 

When  a  manufacturing  plant  closes  down 
because  it  cannot  sell  its  goods  at  a  given 
•  /  price,  or  when  a  retailer  refuses  to  handle 
goods  below  a  price  believed  by  many  to  be 
excessive,  little  is  said.  But  when  the 
farmer  tries  to  adjust  his  production  to  de- 
mand by  limiting  production  there  is  wide- 
spread criticism  of  his  conduct.  There 
should  be  continuance  of  efforts  to  retain 
the  fertihty  of  the  soil,  to  improve  methods 
of  cultivation,  and  to  prevent  destruction  of 
wide  areas  through  erosion.  The  patrimony 
of  the  nation  must  be  preserved  through 
wise  policies  of  reforestation  and  reclama- 
tion of  waste  lands,  j  But  the  great  immedi- 
j  ate  task  is  that  of  adjusting  production  to 
demand  so  that  the  rural  population  may 
advance  in  material  welfare  along  with 
other  groups.!  In  a  competitive  organiza- 
tion of  industry  the  farmer's  success  is 
gauged  by  his  net  income  rather  than  by  the 
number  of  bushels  of  corn  or  bales  of  cotton 
he  produces. 

A  sinister  tendency  in  the  higher-priced   j 
general  agricultural  sections  is  that  of  in- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         51 

crease  in  the  number  of  farms  operated  by- 
farm  tenants.  /Certain  writers  have  at- 
tempted to  prove  that  this  tendency  is  taken 
too  seriously.  /But  the  evidence  of  the  United 
States  Census  from  decade  to  decade  indi- 
cates that  the  danger  is  real;  and  that  the 
sooner  a  poUcy  of  control  is  adopted  the 
better.  "^ 

The  handicaps  to  agriculture  through  this 
Vincrease  are  manifold.  In  a  large  propor- 
tion of  cases,  as  shown  by  studies  in  typical 
areas,  the  landowner  does  not  live  on  a 
neighboring  farm,  nor  is  he  a  retired  parent 
or  other  relative  of  the  tenant  farmer.  He 
lives  in  the  neighboring  city.  Consequently, 
the  rental  from  the  farm  goes  to  help  build 
up  the  material  welfare  of  the  urban  center. 
The  contributions  of  the  absentee  landlord 
to  church  work  go  to  supplement  the  salary 
of  a  city  pastor  on  a  scale  far  beyond  the 
competing  ability  of  the  rural  church  where 
his  land  is  located.  His  contributions  to  be- 
nevolences are  paid  for  out  of  the  income 
from  his  four-hundred-acre  farm  but  are 
credited  to  the  city  church  of  which  he  is  a 
member  instead  of  to  the  rural  church  in 
the    community  where  his  land  is  located. 


52      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

Because  of  the  transient  nature  of  his  resi- 
dence the  tenant,  who  remains  on  the  farm 
on  the  average  less  than  two  years,  has  but 
little  permanent  interest  in  the  life  of  the 
community  and  lacks  the  stability  to  become 
a  valuable  factor  in  building  up  strong  rural 
institutions.  The  landlord,  as  previously 
suggested,  has  been  known  to  oppose  meas- 
ures for  consolidation  of  rural  schools  be- 
cause such  consolidation  might  increase 
taxes,  and  has  been  known  to  threaten  ten- 
ants with  dispossession  if  they  should  vote 
for  consolidation.  The  constant  moving  of 
the  tenant  has  handicapped  the  children  in 
getting  a  good  common-school  education  be- 
cause of  the  breaks  in  their  training  result- 
ing from  this  constant  changing  of  residence. 
The  tenant  house,  with  all  its  implications 
of  class-distinction,  has  come  to  the  country 
side  in  increasing  numbers.  And  slowly  but 
gradually  a  landed  aristocracy  is  grow- 
ing up  in  rural  America  as  marked  as 
the  landed  aristocracy  based  on  the  pur- 
chase of  a  few  acres  of  Manhattan  Island 
several  generations  ago.  And  with  the  ten- 
ant has  come  the  farm  laborer,  alien  to  the 
community,  transient,  and  as  much  a  mem- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         53 

ber  of  the  proletariat  as  if  he  were  working 
in  a  great  factory  in  the  city.  The  I.  W.  W. 
movement  in  the  wheat  fields  and  lumber 
camps  of  the  Northwest  is  but  the  beginning 
of  the  wage-earning  consciousness  as  it 
spreads  out  from  urban  centers. 

The  short  term  of  tenant  operation  is  low-  ^ 
ering  the  standards  of  agriculture.  Instead 
of  farming  on  a  long-time  schedule,  expect- 
ing returns  on  a  system  of  husbandry  reach- 
ing through  the  years,  the  tenant  is  inclined 
to  produce  such  crops  as  can  be  disposed  of 
at  the  close  of  the  year,  regardless  of  the 
effect  of  such  a  form  of  agriculture  upon  the 
fertility  of  the  soil.  Tenant  contracts  as  yet 
offer  little  inducement  for  the  tenant  to  re- 
main permanently  on  a  given  farm  or  to 
keep  up  needed  improvements. 

The  tenant  for  the  time  being  may  even 
make  larger  profits  as  a  tenant  than  as  an 
owner.  But  the  tendency  everywhere  for 
rents  to  rise,  and  the  consequent  increase  in 
the  value  of  the  land,  will  ultimately  bring 
the  tenant  to  the  position  of  securing  from 
his  labor  on  the  farm  an  income  not  much  in 
excess  of  what  he  would  receive  from  work- 
ing as  a  day  laborer.    The  result  in  the  long 


54      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

run  will  be  that  the  best  agricultural  sections 
of  the  country  will  be  occupied  by  a  popula- 
tion lower  in  ability  than  in  a  landowning 
section  and  constantly  kept  down  by  pov- 
erty. /  This  prediction  may  be  deemed  fan- 
ciful by  some,  but  the  writer  beheves  that  it 
is  worthy  of  the  most  careful  consideration 
and  study. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  great  com- 
X/  binations  in  the  oil  and  sugar  industries  dur- 
ing the  70's  and  80's  of  the  past  century  the 
movement  toward  close  industrial  organiza- 
tion has  proceeded  with  little  interruption. 
Legislation  has  been  passed  designed  to 
break  up  industrial  combinations  and  from 
time  to  time  various  industries  have  been 
disintegrated.  But  the  layman  has  not  been 
able  to  discover  that  such  disintegrations  by 
court  order  have  had  any  marked  influence 
on  the  progress  of  the  fundamental  tenden- 
cies toward  industrial  consolidation.  The 
farmers  have  been  the  last  to  get  into  the 
organization  field  on  any  extensive  scale. 
The  Grange  and  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  and 
later  the  Farmers'  Union,  have  made  at- 
tempts and,  although  many  failures  are  re- 
corded, their  work  paved  the  way  for  a  far 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         55 

larger  movement  toward  farm  organization 
now  under  way.  The  tendency  toward  close  ^ 
organization  of  industrial  groups  may  also 
be  seen  in  the  labor  movement,  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  and  the  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World  in  this  country,  and 
the  syndicalist  movement  in  Europe ;  and  in 
the  organization  of  employers'  associations 
and  the  National  Chamber  of  Commerce  on 
the  part  of  business  men.  Whatever  may  be 
thought  of  the  unfortunate  phases  of  this 
movement  toward  closely  organized  group 
consciousness,  however  Bolshevistic  it  may 
be  said  to  be,  it  must  be  recognized  that  class  -^ 
consciousness  has  come  to  stay.  The  old-type 
citizen  who  voted  as  a  Republican  or  a  Dem- 
ocrat and  as  an  individual  regardless  of  his 
industrial  affiliations  is  passing  away,  and 
to-day  the  business  men  as  a  class,  the  wage- 
earners  as  a  class,  the  farmers  as  a  class,  ap- 
proach the  leaders  of  both  traditional  parties 
with  their  ultimatums  as  to  what  they  will 
do  if  certain  policies  are  not  recorded  in 
their  respective  platforms.  /And  the  best- 
organized  groups,  those  that  can  swing  the 
most  totes  or  can  produce  the  largest  finan- 
cial inducements,  are  the  ones  that  get  most 


56      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

consideration.  This  may  be  Bolshevism,  but 
if  it  is,  it  is  a  fact  in  American  life,  and  we 
may  as  well  adjust  ourselves  to  handling  the 
situation  wisely  instead  of  lamenting  the 
passing  of  the  system  of  individual  represen- 
tation which  was  the  basis  on  which  Ameri- 
can government  was  founded.  \,^ 
/The  farmer  cannot  be  accused  of  leader- 
ship in  this  change  in  the  American  State. 
Business  men  and  wage-earners   began    it, 

■'  and  the  farmer  has  been  forced  to  follow 
their  example.  The  old  type  individualism 
of  the  landowning-operating  farmer  has 
long  handicapped  the  farmer  in  his  relations 
with  other  industrial  groups.  /A.nd  it  is  with 
many  mistakes  and  setbacks  that  he  is  now 
endeavoring  to  follow  the  example  so  ably 
set  by  the  multimillionaires    of    the    other 

J  groups,  /better  organization,  not  for  ex- 
ploitation but  for  protection    and    mainte- 

y  nance  of  a  safe  balance  of  influence  in  eco- 
nomic affairs,  is  fully  justified,  and  the 
minister  of  the  gospel  is  serving  the  farmer 
best  when  he  encourages  right  and  efficient 
organization. 
\/  The  American  Farm  Bureau  Federation, 
begun  a  few  years  ago  through  the  encour- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         57 

agement  of  county  agricultural  agents  in  or- 
der to  give  them  a  point  of  contact  with 
groups  of  farmers  and  to  give  local  support 
of  the  county  agent's  work,  has  now  taken 
into  its  own  hands  the  task  of  farmer  organ- 
ization.^And  now,  with  resources  far  be- 
yond what  could  have  been  dreamed  of  a 
few  years  ago,  this  organization  is  embark- 
ing on  programs  of  farmers'  business  organ-  Q 
ization  almost  too  staggering  in  their  size 
to  be  comprehended,  yif  rightly  managed, 
and  if  farmers  can  prove  loyal  to  their  own  Ay^ 
organization,  this  movement  is  destined  to 
solve  many  of  the  problems  of  intergroup 
relationships  confronting  the  farmers  during 
the  past  few  decades. 

As  a  part  of  the  modern  farmer  organi- 
zation movement,  and  holding  within  itself 
the  largest  promise  of  social  values,  is  the 
encouragement  of  cooperation.  Since  the 
days  in  1844,  when  a  little  group  of  wage- 
earners  in  England,  out  of  work  and  gath- 
ered round  a  fire  in  a  tavern,  decided  to  go 
into  business  for  themselves  on  a  basis  of 
one-man  one  vote,  and  distribution  of  profits 
on  business  done  with  the  concern  instead  of 
stock  held,  the  movement  has  continued  to 


58      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

spread  all  over  the  world  until  to-day  it 
holds  a  very  important  place  in  many  hnes  of 
industry  in  leading  countries. 

In  this  country  cooperation  has  been  an 
agricultural  rather  than  an  urban  develop- 
ment, primarily  because  economic  conditions 
have  made  it  more  necessary  in  agriculture 
than  elsewhere.  Farmers'  elevators,  live- 
stock shipping  associations,  insurance  com- 
panies, fruit-  and  produce-marketing  or- 
ganizations have  all  gained  a  sound  footing 
and  each  year  shows  an  increase  in  their 
nimibers.  The  movement  has  been  consist- 
ently fought  by  competitive  profit-seeking 
interests  but  without  avail  further  than  to 
delay  the  movement.  In  the  early  days  dis- 
crimination in  furnishing  cars,  underbid- 
ding, misrepresentation,  adverse  legislation 
all  had  to  be  overcome,  in  addition  to  the 
fact  that  ignorance  of  business  principles 
often  led  to  failure.  Even  now,  within  the 
past  five  years,  agricultural  colleges  have 
been  prevented  from  adding  advisers  on  co- 
operative organization  to  their  extension 
staffs,  retail  merchants'  associations  have 
prevented  cooperative  organization  legisla- 
tion, and  insidious  attempts  have  been  made 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         59 

to  prevent  popular  education  with  reference 
ta  the  movement. 

^The  cooperative  movement  offers  the 
greatest  opportunity  for  the  country  minis- 
ter for  definite  service  in  the  farmers'  eco- 
nomic progress./  The  principle  underlying 
the  movement  is  "Each  for  all,  and  all  for  \ 
each."  Instead  of  the  capitaUst  and  laborer 
being  in  opposite  camps  under  the  necessity 
for  bargaining,  and  each  doing  as  little  as 
possible  and  getting  as  much  as  possible  for 
their  respective  shares  of  the  product  of  the 
industry,  the  cooperative  movement  brings 
them  into  harmony  for  production  of  goods^ 
in  the  belief  that  all  are  to  share  fairly  in^ 
what  is  produced.  The  storekeeper  and  the 
buyer  no  longer  haggle  over  the  price  be- 
cause both  will  share  in  the  returns  of  the 
business  done.  /The  cooperative  movement 
bids  fair  to  solve  many  of  the  problems  of 
open  and  closed  shop,  collective  bargaining, 
labor  organization,  and  of  relations  between 
producer  and  consumer.  Its  steady  growth 
is  bringing  about  industrial  peace  and  since 
it  represents  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity 
/  the  minister  is  justified,  in  encouraging  its 
development  wherever  he  may  be. 


l^" 


60      CHUKCH  COOPERATION 

What  is  the  challenge  to  the  church  of  the 
^onomic  conditions  and  tendencies  outlined 
above?     First  and  foremost,  | the  minister^ 

I  must  in  season  and  out  of  season  preach  hon- 
esty in  business  relations,  f  One  of  the  most 
important  discoveries  in  the  study  of  prob- 
lems of  the  farmer's  business  relations  is 
that  his  success  or  failure  depends  largely 

^^pon  the  moral  principles  of  the  farmer  as 
a  group.    The  farmer  who  puts  poor  apples 

V  or  potatoes  in  the  middle  of  the  barrel,  who 
uses  false  weights  and  measures,  who  fails 
to  produce  the  best  of  which  he  is  capable, 
lowers  the  price  of  all  farm  products,  p  The 
dealer  who  must  throw  out  a  certain  propor- 
tion of  bad  eggs  in  his  miscellaneous  pur- 
chases makes  the  buying  price  low  enough 
to  protect  himself.  The  consumer's  demand 
is  gauged  very  largely  by  the  quality  or  reli- 
ability of  the  goods  he  purchases.     So  dis- 

I  /honesty  in  farm  business  hurts  the  farmer 
more  than  it  does  anyone  else.  The  minister 
can  render  a  service  when  he  imbues  his  peo- 
ple with  the  highest  ideals  of  business 
morality. 

Moreover,  he  can  help  in  eliminating  the 
loss  to  the  farmer  through  attempted  sale  of 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         61 

ungraded,  miscellaneous  products  bj^encour-  ^ 
aging  standardization  and  guarantee  of 
quality.^  This  requires  organization;  and 
while  it  should  be  the  pastor's  aim  to  encour- 
age the  formation  of  agencies  independent 
of  the  church  to  attend  to  this  and  to  estab- 
lish contacts  between  his  community  and 
State  and  independent  organizations  that 
will  assist  in  this  work  he  should  not  hesitate 
so  far  as  his  time  will  permit  to  organize 
such  standardization  work  and  organization 
for  guaranteeing  products  until  other  agen- 
cies can  take  the  work  over.  His  obligation 
as  community  leader  extends  to  the  encour- 
agement of  every  phase  of  life  that  makes 
the  country  more  livable  in  the  way  de- 
manded at  the  particular  stage  of  develop- 
ment in  which  he  finds  the  community. 

!•  As  stated  before,! his  primary  task  in  en- 
couraging production  is  now  that  of  estab- 
lishing contacts  with  State  agencies  and  en- 
couraging the  support  of  their  work.l  In 
some  sections  of  the  country,  as  among  the 
colored    people,    for    example,    a    country 

^-  preacher  might  well  be  a  trained  farmer  ca-  • 
pable  of  doing  in  a  local  community  what 
a  county  agent  tries  to  do  on  a  larger  scale. 


62      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

But  the  State  has  now  progressed  in  most 
sections  to  the  point  where,  if  opportunity 
is  offered,  it  can  assist  in  this  work  and  re- 
lieve the  pastor  for  other  duties. 
t/^fThe  rural  pastor  should  be  a  leader  in 
community  economic  organization/  It  is  ac- 
cepted now  that  economic  organizations 
along  cooperative  lines  should  be  independ- 
ent of  either  educational,  religious,  or  social 
groups.  After  such  organizations  are  well 
established  the  pastor  has  met  in  this  respect 
the  challenge  to  the  church  and  to  the  pastor 
a$  community  leader. 
VThe  church  as  a  whole  should  have  some 

/^  f orm  of  organization  whereby  it  can  regis- 
ter its  influence  in  favor  of  State  legislation  ( 
making  safe  the  development  of  the  coopera- 
tive movement,  the  better  organization  of 
marketing,  the  proper  control  of  land  own- 
ership, taxation,  and  other  business  relations 
affecting  the  farmer.  Many  of  these  prob- 
lems cannot  be  solved  by  a  minister  working 
alone  in  a  local  community.  He  can  preach 
honesty,  stability,  loyalty  to  community  or- 

f  ganization  with  all  the  fervor  and  liberty  of 
a  prophet,  but  so  long  as  the  tenant  contract 
remains  an  inducement  to  transient  tenant 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         63 

population ;  so  long  as  class  distinctions  con- 
tinue to  become  more  marked ;  so  long  as  dis- 
content over  high  rents,  high  prices  of  land, 
and  other  conditions  continues,  he  will  not 
get  far  toward  the  establishing  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  in  agricultural  life.  These 
problems  must  be  attacked  by  the  church  as 
a  whole  as  the  obligation  of  the  general 
church  to  the  minister  who  is  on  the  firing 
line  of  the  great  world-wide  struggle  for  the; 
estabhshment  of  industrial  peace. 

One  or  two  concrete  illustrations  will  show 
the  necessity  of  general  church  action  on 
these  matters  if  the  rural  church  is  to  be 
saved  from  conditions  now  acute  in  the  large 
ju  centers.  Wage-earners  in  the  large  centers 
'  who  have  no  assurance  of  permanence  of  jobs 
are  not  inclined  to  give  hberally  toward  pro- 
viding adequate  building  and  equipment  for 
religious  services.  No  wage-earner  can  be 
expected  to  give  hundreds  of  dollars  out  of 
his  income  toward  building  a  church  when 
the  next  month  may  find  him  compelled  to 
move  to  some  distant  city.  In  hke  manner 
it  is  difficult  in  large  centers  to  get  wage- 
earners  even  to  maintain  a  church  ade- 
quately.   Consequently  the  church  is  to-day 


64      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

spending  millions  of  dollars  to  provide 
church  buildings  for  wage-earners  in  large 
cities.  Yet  it  does  not  have  any  program  for 
bringing  about  wage  returns,  permanency 
of  employment,  or  interest  in  business  that 
would  make  it  possible  or  desirable  for  the 
wage-earner  to  finance  his  own  church  build- 
ing. Neither  does  the  church  have  a  plan 
whereby  the  industries  of  a  city  make  any 
adequate  contribution  to  the  housing  of  reli- 
gious institutions  for  those  connected  with 
the  industry.  Although  the  wealth  of  Amer- 
ica is  centered  in  the  great  cities,  the  provi- 
sion for  religious  service  to  city  people  is 
being  made  by  people  living  in  small  towns 
and  in  the  open  country. 

As  in  the  city,  so  in  the  open  country.  It 
has  become  necessary  for  the  general  church  1^ 
to  provide  even  pastoral  maintenance  in  cer- 
tain sections  where  land  is  worth  three  hun- 
dred dollars  per  acre.  The  transient  tenant 
has  no  abiding  interest  in  the  community  be- 
cause he  expects  to  move  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  This  condition  is  gradually  becoming 
worse ;  and  unless  the  general  church  under- 
takes the  solution  of  problems  affecting  the 
local  church  but  over  which  the  local  church 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         65 

has  no  control,  the  future  will  bring  either  a 
decline  in  religious  influence  in  rural  sections 
or  a  continuous  burden  on  national  boards 
that  should  and  would  under  proper  condi- 
tions be  cared  for  by  local  communities. 

That  the  church  can  help  in  improving 
economic  conditions  to  the  advantage  of  all 
rural  life  has  already  been  abundantly  dem- 
onstrated. On  the  Brookhaven  District, 
Mississippi  Conference,  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  the  missionary  board  of  that 
denomination  made  a  contribution  of  three 
hundred  dollars  toward  the  support  for  the 
summer  of  a  man  and  woman  engaged  in 
organizing  community  clubs.  Twenty-one 
clubs  were  organized,  and  as  a  result  of  their 
efforts  over  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  fruit 
and  truck  were  saved  during  the  period  of 
the  war  when  food  conservation  was  a  neces- 
sity. As  a  result  of  this  contribution,  at  last 
reports  there  were  three  colored  county  agri- 
cultural agents  employed  in  counties  of  that 
district,  all  supported  by  the  State,  and  no 
further  contribution  of  missionary  funds  to 
continue  the  work  was  necessary.  For  years 
Bishop  Thirkield,  of  the  New  Orleans  area 
of    the    Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  had 


66      CHURCH  COOPERATIOX 

been  encouraging  keeping  of  gardens  by  the 
pastors  and  land  ownership  among  colored 
people.  It  is  unpossible  to  estimate  accu- 
rately the  results  of  his  broad  program,  but 
one  district  superintendent  reported  for  his 
own  official  boards  that  while  at  the  opening 
of  the  year  25  per  cent  of  his  official  board 
members  on  the  district  were  in  debt,  at  the 
close  of  the  year  not  one  of  them  was  in  debt. 
They  had  been  taught  how  to  save  money 
and  to  pay  their  debts,  and  the  members  of 
the  churches  were  encouraged  to  follow  their 
example. 

On  a  little  charge  in  southeastern  Ohio 
the  pastor  began  to  preach  good  roads.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  the  first  year  a  township  or- 
ganization had  been  formed  and  a  vote  taken 
providing  for  the  macadamizing  of  every 
road  in  the  township. 

Four  years  ago  the  missionary  board  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  made  a  con- 
tribution of  four  hundred  dollars  toward 
the  support  of  a  pastor  in  a  village  in  New 
York.  He  organized  a  community  club,  led 
in  securing  a  community  house,  installed 
moving  pictures,  and  provided  for  the  recre- 
ational life  of  the  community.     To-day  no 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE  67 

contribution  is  being  made  by  the  Board  for 
this  work.  Yet  the  membership  of  the  club  has 
increased  from  fifty-nine  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five.  It  has  been  responsible  for  the 
establishment  of  a  national  bank  which  had 
one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars 
deposits  in  the  first  six  months;  it  paved 
over  five  hundred  feet  of  street;  it  provided 
for  the  consolidation  of  four  rural  schools 
with  the  village  schodl.  And  plans  were  un- 
der way  for  opening  a  ferry  across  the  Hud- 
son that  had  not  been  run  for  thirty  years 
and  for  the  establishment  of  an  important 
manufacturing  plant.  Thus  a  little  stimu- 
lation has  resulted  in  economic  development 
that  must  result  in  better  financial  support 
of  all  community  activities. 

I  In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  the 
business  of  the  pastor  to  concern  himself  with 
all  economic  problems  that  affect  the  welfare 
of  his  people.\  The  type  of  problem  will  vary 
with  the  community  and  its  stage  of  develop- 
ment. As  rapidly  as  possible  the  church 
should  turn  over  to  private  or  State  agencies 
the  task  of  economic  development.  But  the 
church  should  encourage  in  every  way  every 
movement  that  is  destined  to  bring  about  a 


68      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

higher  stage  of  economic  welfare;  and  the 
pastor  cannot  relinquish  his  obligations  in  this 
respect  until  he  has  succeeded  in  establishing 
other  agencies  that  can  effectively  perform 
^  this  task.  His  duty,  then,  is  to  encourage 
this  form  of  development  by  educating  the 
people  as  to  its  value  and  by  giving  it  his 
moral  support. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         69 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE     SOCIAL    CHALLENGE     TO 
THE   CHURCH 

.  The  task  of  the  minister  is  primarily  to 
deal  with  man,  either  in  his  own  personal  life, 
his  relations  to  his  Maker,  or  to  his  fellow- 
man.  Unlike  the  farmer,  whose  interest  lies 
in  the  control  of  animal  or  plant  growth,  or 
the  mechanic,  who  controls  and  molds  the 
forces  and  conditions  of  inanimate  nature, 
the  minister  has  to  do  with  that  most  delicate 
and  elusive  subject  of  all — ^the  human  soul. 
His  business  is  to  tune  the  individual  soul 
instrument  so  that  it  will  harmonize  with  the 
musical  vibrations  of  the  Infinite  Will;  and 
to  bring  about  such  a  relationship  between 
the  different  instruments  in  his  little  group 
that  all  together  will  produce  a  heavenly- 
harmony. 

The  Christian  religion,  except  when  it  has 
degenerated  into  formal  Pharisaism,  has 
been  an  ethical  religion ;  and  the  ethical  con- 
duct of  the  individual  has  been  a  criterion  of 


70      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

the  depth  of  his  religious  experience.  Ethics 
have  primarily  to  do  with  the  relation  of  man 
to  man,  so  that  the  conclusion  is  logical  that 
the  church  is  vitally  interested  in  the  ethical 
problems  of  humanity  and  in  anything  that 
tends  to  lower  or  raise  the  moral  standards 
of  the  individual  or  the  community, 
^^-^here  is  no  other  agency  more  vitally  in- 
terested in  moral  problems  than  is  the 
church.  Business  organizations  may  be  in- 
V  I  terested,  but  their  efforts  have  apparently 
not  been  to  conserve  moral  standards,  even 
in  business.  The  school  is  interested,  but 
its  emphasis  has  been  placed  more  on  mental 
development  without  regard  to  moral  impli- 
cations, or  on  utihtarian  objectives.  The 
church  has  been  preaching  right  living,  and 
other  objectives  have  been  incidental. -^Since 
this  is  true  the  thesis  is  advanced  as  the  basis 
for  this  chapter  thattit  is  the  business  of  the 
church  to  provide  building,  equipment,  and 
leadership  for  conserving  the  moral  life  of 
the  community.  1  Since  the  moral  welfare  of 
any  community  finds  its  expression  largely 
in  its  social  and  recreational  activities,  such 
provision  involves  providing  for  the  social 
and  recreational  interests./  This  is  a  func- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         71 

tion  jlvhich  is  not  to  be  encouraged  and  then  Q 
"turned  over  to  other  agencies,  but  is  to  1^ 
\1  retained  by  the  church  itself  as  its  legitimate 
service. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  efforts  of  vari- 
ous agencies  have  not  been  in  entire  harmony 
with  this  point  of  view  it  deserves  further 
consideration.  For  many  years  it  has  been 
argued  that  the  schoolhouse  should  be  so 
built  that  it  could  be  made  the  community 
center  for  all  types  of  activities.  Without 
intending  to  limit  the  public  schools  in  any 
laudable  endeavoi*  to  enrich  rural  life  it 
should  be  noted : 

1.  That  so  far  as  villages  and  open  coun- 
try schools  are  concerned  it  is  not  believed 
that  the  agitation  for  the  wider  use  of  the 
school  plant  has  yet  resulted  in  any  marked  ^ 
nation-wide  response  to  such  agitation  fur- 
ther than  to  provide  room  for  physical  train- 
ing of  upper-class  students. 

2.  In  general,  the  schoolhouse  is  so  located 
that  it  is  not  suited  for  community  service. 
It  is  usually  located  on  the  outskirts  of  the  i"' 
village,  where  plenty  of  ground  may  be  had 
for  outdoor  school  games.  When  people 
gather  for  social  life  and  leisure  they  do  not 


72      CHURCH  COOPERATIOX 

go  away  from  the  lights  of  the  village  street 
but  move  toward  them.  The  well-lighted 
poolroom  near  the  village  store  will  attract 
more  boys  than  the  building  on  the  village 
edge  that  must  be  reached  through  the  dark. 
Villagers  have  their  downtown  as  well  as  do 
the  great  urban  centers. 

3.  The  school  teachers  and  principal  are 
busy  five  days  in  the  week  in  the  classroom. 

iThe  schools  cannot  assume  charge  of  com- 
munity center  activities  without  danger 
either  of  overworking  the  teachers  or  of  hav- 
ing to  hire  special  assistance  for  this  service. 
Many  villages  cannot  afford  to  hire  special 
workers  for  this  purpose  alone. 

4.  It  has  been  argued  that  the  school  is 
the  democratic  institution  since  it  is  tax-sup- 
ported, and  thus  every  one  may  go  there  as 
a  right.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that,  as 
with  the  church,  only  those  contribute  who 
have  resources  from  which  to  contribute. 
The  only  difference  is  that  in  the  public 
school  the  majority  decide  that  all  those  who 
are  able  must  contribute  to  the  support  of 
public  institutions,  thus  it  falls  short  of  com- 
plete democracy,  which  must,  in  the  last  anal- 
ysis, be  a  purely  voluntary  association.    In 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         73 

the  church  the  only  force  compelling  contri- 
bution is  personal  desire  and  public  opinion. 
Thus  it  is  as  democratic,  if  not  more  so,  than 
the  school. 

5.  On  the  other  hand,  a  large  part  of  the 
time  of  the  country  minister  is  available  for 
pastoral  service.  The  establishment  of  com-t 
munity  service  activities  under  the  auspices 
of  the  church  bids  fair  to  rescue  pastoral  call- 
ing and  service  from  a  routine  of  personal 
visitation  by  giving  it  a  definite  community 
service  objective.  Again,  in  the  beginnings 
in  the  medium-sized  and  larger  villages  and 
probably  continuously  in  the  smaller  places 
the  pastor  is  the  only  salaried  servant  of  the 
community  with  free  time  during  the  week 
for  the  organization  and  direction  of  com- 
munity service. 

6.  The  church  building  and  parish  house* 
can  be  located  conveniently  at  the  center  of 
the  village,  thus  obviating  the  objection  to 
the  school  building  for  this  purpose. 

7.  True  rehgion  is  a  loyal  supporter  of< 
everything  that  is  safe  in  social  and  recrea- 
tional life.  It  is  subject  to  the  control  of  the 
community  in  the  same  way  as  the  school; 
excessive  puritanism  need  not  be  feared  un- 


74      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

der  its  auspices  more  than  under  the  auspices 
of  other  agencies. 

The  usual  argument  against  serious  con- 
sideration of  the  church  as  the  center  of  com- 
munity hfe  is  that  religious  agencies  are  so 
divided  up  by  dogmatism  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  any  one  religious  organization  to 
assume  leadership  in  this  respect  without 
incurring  the  opposition  of  other  agencies. 
While  this  is  true  in  many  cases,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  dogmatism  does  not  have 
the  influence  in  more  highly  developed  com- 
munities that  it  once  had.  Moreover,  con- 
siderable progress  has  already  been  made  to- 
ward intergroup  agreements,  including  the 
two  great  divisions  of  the  Christian  Church 
giving  responsibility  for  community  leader- 
ship to  one  denomination  or  another.  In 
cases  where  local  adjustments  have  not  been 
made  it  may  be  necessary  to  depend  on  other 
agencies  to  conserve  the  social  and  recrea- 
tional life.  In  these  cases  the  church  loses 
its  rightful  heritage. 

8.  The  popular  response  to  projects  of 
building  community  churches  and  parish 
houses  in  small  communities  leads  to  the  be- 
lief that  the  general  public  accepts  as  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         75 

correct  one  the  principle  that  the  church 
should  provide  these  facilities  ^^  The  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  denomination  alone,  through 
the  aid  of  its  Church  Extension  Board,  aided 
in  1920  in  building  or  remodehng  over  four 
hundred  church  and  parish  houses  equipped 
to  provide  for  all  or  a  part  of  a  community 
service  program;! it  is  not  known  how  many£) 
more  made  such  advances  without  outside 
aid.  The  question  of  whether  the  church 
or  some  other  agency  than  either  the  church 
or  the  school  should  provide  community  serv- 
ice facilities  may  be  answered  in  much  the 
same  way./  In  some  States  local  communi-  jy 
ties  may  levy  a  tax  for  the  building  and 
maintenance  of  community  buildings. 
hN  Where  this  is  possible  there  seems  to  be  no  . 
serious  objection  to  such  a  course.  /But  a 
community  building  without  adequate  su- 
pervision is  likely  to  become  a  center  of 
moral  deterioration.  On  the  other  hand,  , 
such  a  pubUc  building  can  be  located  more 
strategically  than  can  a  schoolhouse.  The 
objection  to  stock-company-owned  commu- 
nity houses  is  much  more  serious.  These ^ 
are  hkely  to  become  mere  pleasure  resorts, 
often  of  a  very  questionable  nature. 


^. 


/ 


76      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

.y  The  judgment  of  the  American  people 
seems  to  be  rapidly  determining  that  the 
safest  plan  is  to  look  to  the  religious  agen- 
cies for  conserving  the  social  and  recrea- 
tional life;  and  this  judgment  is  in  harmony 
with  the  thesis  advanced  at  the  opening  of 
t^is  chapter. 

^f  the  principle  is  accepted  that  it  is  the 

*^  business  of  the  church  to  conserve  the  social 

1  life  of  the  community,  therJit  is  next  in  order 

to  consider  some  of  the  problems  of  social 

life  that  are  a  challenge  to  the  church  at  the 

present  time  J 

The  social  organization  of  this  country 
in  its  smaller  communities  as  in  the  larger 
centers,  such  as  it  is,  is  the  product  of  undi- 
rected uncoordinated  efforts  of  special  inter- 
est groups.  A  general  classification  of  the 
types  of  rural  organizations  may  be  made, 
first,  into  political,  including  the  incorpor- 
ated village,  towns,  townships,  counties,  and 
poHtical  parties ;  economic,  including  special 
associations  around  specific  interests  such  as 
farm  bureaus,  stock  breeders'  associations, 
potato-growers'  associations,  etc.,  and  the  in- 
creasing number  of  cooperative  organiza- 
tions, such  as  farmers'  elevators,  fruit-mar- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         77 

keting  organizations,  live-stock,  shipping 
associations;  social,  including  the  Grange, 
the  various  types  of  farmers'  clubs  for  men 
and  women  that  perform  much  the  same 
function  as  the  Grange,  and  the  more  or 
less  permanent  groupings  for  purely  recre- 
ational purposes,  such  as  dancing  parties, 
card  parties,  etc. ;  and  the  conventional  reli- 
gious organizations  as  represented  by  the 
denominations  and  their  many  subsidiary 
groups  for  special  purposes. 

As  was  pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on  defi- 
nitions, each  of  these  various  groups  has  a 
customary  center  for  coming  together.  But 
owing  to  the  fact  that  each  interest  has 
grown  largely  without  reference  to  the  oth- 
ers, their  centers  of  activity  have  been  deter-  * 
mined  largely  by  conditions  of  local  conven- 
ience. Now,  these  centers  may  have  been 
well  adapted  to  the  times  when  they  were 
established,  but  as  time  has  passed  shifts  of 
population  have  come,  road  improvements 
have  been  made,  and  new  interests  devel- 
oped so  that  the  traditional  centers  not  only 
tend  to  lessen  community  sohdarity  but  also 
tend  to  prevent  its  accompUshment.  One  of 
the  first  tasks  of  the  community  leader  is  to 


78      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

f  make  a  study  of  his  proposed  field  of  activ- 
ity for  the  purpose  of  determining  what  are 
the  present  centers  of  group  interests,  what 
changes  have  taken  place  in  rural  life  con- 
ditions which  make  reorganization  and  read- 
justment of  centers  desirable,  and  then,  in 
consultation  with  representatives  of  the  com- 
munity, to  organize  a  community  plan  to-* 
ward  which  the  entire  community  may  work. 
City  planning  has  long  been  an  accepted 
V  principle  for  service  in  the  more  progressive 
larger  centers.  The  time  has  come  when 
plans  for  the  most  efficient  organization  of 

^  village  and  open  country  communities 
should  be  made.  ^It  is  interesting  to  note 
that/already  in  many  sections  of  the  United 

•  States  the  movement  toward  community 
planning  has  made  considerable  progress. 
It  is  now  generally  recognized  that  with 
rare  exceptions  the  village  rather  than  an 

/open  country  point  is  the  normal  basis  for 
such  a  plan.  In  accordance  with  this,  move- 
ments are  now  under  way  to  displace  the 
traditional  township  boundaries  created  as 
.  political  limits  for  government  and  to  re- 
place them  by  boundaries  conforming  as 
closely  as  possible  with  those  limits  that  care- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         79 

ful  investigation  indicates  are  now  and  prob- 
ably will  continue  to  be  the  most  represen- 
tative of  what  the  future  limits  of  ruralj^ 
communities  will  be.  In  like  manner  educa- 
tional work  is  being  reorganized  to  include 
the  community  territory  instead  of  the  polit- 
ical areas  inherited  from  the  methods  of  sur- 
vey adopted  under  the  ordinance  of  1787. 
As  this  movement  continues,  doubtless  farm' 
bureaus,  and  even  religious  agencies,  will  try 
to  adapt  themselves  as  far  as  possible  to  the 
program  of  other  agencies. 

The  breakdown  of  social  life  in  the  open  ^ 
country  and  the  very  questionable  forms  it 
often  takes  in  the  villages  has  long  been  the 
nightmare  of  the  minister  of  the  gospel  who 
stands  for  a  high  ethical  plane  of  social  life. 
The  church,  with  its  Ladies'  Aid,  its  young 
people's  societies,  its  occasional  men's  clubs, 
fails  to  reach  more  than  a  very  limited  num- 
ber of  those  hving  in  the  open  country  or  in 
the  village.  The  lack  of  a  definite,  well-or- 
ganized social  program  results  in  all  kinds 
of  association  often  anti-social  and  lowering 
of  the  moral  fiber  of  the  entire  group.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  go  into  the  sordid  details  of 
moral  conditions  existing  among  both  young 


/ 


80      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

and  old  in  many  village  communities.  The 
pastor  with  a  program  of  absentee  service 
consisting  of  an  occasional  sermon  and  hold- 
ing a  Sunday  school  finds  his  efforts  contin- 
ually nullified  by  more  powerful  social  and 
recreational  impulses  expressing  themselves 
in  ways  recognized  as  morally  deteriorating. 
When  a  plan  for  ultimate  centrahzation  of 
wholesome  and  legitimate  community  inter- 
est has  been  made  it  is  the  minister's  task  to 
organize  a  plan  for  bringing  to  the  commu- 
nity an  abundance  of  wholesome  recreational 
y  life.  The  traditional  plan  has  been  to  preach 
against  dancing  and  card  playing.  Such 
preaching  has  more  often  alienated  the 
young  people  from  the  church  than  it  has 
attracted  them  to  religious  Ufe.  /The  mod- 
ern plan  is  to  overcome  evil  with  good;  that 
is,  to  provide  such  a  program  of  unques- 
tioned recreation  that  the  evil  will  die  of^ 
itself. 

That  this  actually  happens  has  been  dem- 
onstrated over  and  over  again.  The  Rev. 
Matthew  B.  McNutt,  on  arriving  at  Dd 
U  Page,  Illinois,  found  a  large  building  near 
the  church  turned  into  a  dancing  center. 
Without  saying  a  word  against  dancing  he 


g[^ 


IlSr  COMMUNITY  LIFE         81 

began  to  organize  his  young  people  for  sing- 
ing. In  a  short  time  the  dancing  mania  had 
ceased  and  did  not  return  in  the  twelve  years 
of  his  service  on  that  charge.  The  Rev.  L. 
P.  Fagan  found  dancing  all  the  rage  when 
he  went  to  a  little  town  in  Colorado.  He 
began  to  develop  a  wholesome  program  of 
recreational  life,  and  before  long  dancing 
had  ceased  and  had  not  returned  two  years  ^ 
after  he  had  left  the  charge.  At  a  little  town 
in  New  York  State,  the  young  men  of  the 
town  were  accustomed  to  gather  at  the  fire 
house  and  indulge  in  cards  with  more  than 
occasional  playing  for  money.  A  recrea- 
tion hall  opened  in  the  village  broke  up  the 
card-playing  and  brought  the  young  men 
into  something  more  wholesome  and  which 
they  preferred.  A  village  in  Southwestern 
Ohio  had  a  gang  of  "Roughnecks,"  as  they 
were  called,  who  were  accustomed  to  loaf  in 
the  poolrooms  and  find  their  amusement  in 
neighboring  cities.  A  room  in  the  upstairs 
of  the  town  hall  was  opened  up  and  fitted 
for  basketball.  /Leadership  for  clubs  was 
provided  by  college  students  training  for 
community  service.  The  result  was  that  this 
group  of  young  men,  of  exceptionally  good 


U 


4ri 


82      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

native  qualities  but  spoiling  morally  for 
want  of  adequate  provision  for  recreational 
life,  came  to  the  community  center  and  for 
the  time  being  avoided  the  lower  forms  of 
social  and  recreational  activity. 

These   illustrations   prove   three   things: 
•st,  the  need  of  such  equipment ;  second,  the 
fact  that  young  people  prefer  and  choose  the 

^  better  when  it  is  provided  for  them ;  and, 
third,  that  the  church  can  solve  many  of  its 
most  serious  problems  most  readily  by  at- 
tacking the  source  of  corruption  of  the 
morals  of  young  people  through  caring  for 
recreational  interests.  The  minister  who  neg- 
lects this  powerful  force  in  attempting  to 
build  a  Christian  civilization  is  failing  to  take 
advantage  of  one  of  the  greatest  instruments 

V  God  has  placed  in  his  hands.  Yet  it  is  the 
sad  fact  that  in  too  many  instances  ministers 
are  failing  to  take  advantage  of  the  forces 
at  hand,  and  that  even  those  who  have  caught 
the  vision  of  the  possibihties  of  these  other 
forces  are  not  trained  to  use  them  safely. 

The  number  of  village  communities  that 

have  organized  social  and  recreational  life 

iy  is  still  so  small  that  when  such  movements 

are  discovered  they  receive  widespread  com- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         83 

merit  in  the  public  press. /One  can  drop  into 
almost  any  village  in  America  and  make  in- 
quiries as  to  what  is  being  done  for  conserv-  Q 
ing  the  recreational  life  by  the  church  or  any 
other  community  agency,  and  the  answer  will 
be  that  nothing  is  done  either  in  providing 
leadership  or  buildings  and  equipment. 
J^^uch  good  work  has  been  done  for  specific 
groups  by  the  Christian  Associations,  and 
now  the  American  Playground  Association, 
the  Red  Cross,  and  other  organizations  are 
applying  themselves  to  the  task  of  bringing 
about  a  better  condition  in  smaller  commu- 
nities. /But  the  work  accomplished  by  all  of 
them  is  still,  as  compared  with  the  task  in 
hand,  scarcely  more  than  a  beginning/.  The 
church  with  a  paid  community  leader  in  each  ^ 
community  offers  the  solution  for  most  rap- 
id and  permanent  progress ;  and  the  outlook 
for  rapid  development  under  religious  au- 
spices is  most  hopeful,  j 


84      CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  V 

BUILDING      FOR      COMMUNITY 
SERVICE 

The  thesis  that  the  church  should  provide 
building  and  equipment  for  conservation  of 
the  social  and  recreational  life  of  the  church 
introduces  standards  and  objectives  that  do 
not  find  expression  in  the  great  majority  of 
church  buildings  now  erected,  nor  even  in 
the  majority  of  plans  sent  out  by  religious 
agencies  or  architectural  concerns  bidding 
for  contracts  for  church  planning  and 
building. 

The  traditional  village  and  open  country 
church  was  a  one-room  structure  erected  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  providing  a  place  for 
worship.  This  amply  met  the  needs  of  a  pio- 
neer time  when  social  activities  were  largely 
carried  on  in  the  homes.  In  a  very  large 
number  of  communities  this  is  still  the  only 
type  of  church  building  to  be  found.  As  the 
idea  of  providing  for  Sunday  school  began 
to  prevail  gradually  side  rooms  were  added 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         85 

to  provide  for  extra  Sunday  school  classes. 
In  the  course  of  time  the  needs  of  a  wider 
program  for  the  church  began  to  be  recog- 
nized, and  then  basements  were  added  with 
an  occasional  kitchen.  Thus  the  entertain- 
ments for  adults  and  of  the  young  people 
old  enough  to  enjoy  banquets  and  Uke 
amusement  were  provided  for.  But  the 
needs  of  the  young  people  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  and  many  other  community 
needs  were  still  uncared  for. 

The  new  program  demands  a  building  or 
buildings  that  will  provide  for  the  threefold 
program  of  worship,  religious  education,  and 
community  service.  In  view  of  the  lack  of 
standards  for  rural  church  building,  the 
present  discussion  is  offered  in  the  hope  that 
it  may  contain  some  practical  suggestions  in 
terms  of  the  program  demanded  of  the  mod- 
ern open  country  and  village  church. 

It  is  believed  that  the  type  of  building 
suitable  for  an  open  country  community  will 
be  somewhat  different  from  that  needed  in  a 
village  center.  The  number  of  rooms  will 
be  less.  Usually,  two  main  rooms,  one  for 
worship  and  the  other  for  recreational  pur- 
poses, with  such  side  rooms  for  kitchen  and 


86      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

special  clubs  and  classes  as  the  community 
can  afford,  will  be  sufficient.  The  recreation 
room  should  have  stage,  lantern  slide,  and 
moving  picture  equipment,  and  a  very  simple 
provision  for  games.  Problems  of  plumbing 
and  heating  must  be  worked  out  in  accord- 
ance with  local  conditions. 

In  the  larger  centers,  in  addition  to  the 
facilities  mentioned  above,  other  rooms  may 
be  added  as  a  careful  study  of  village  equip- 
ment and  needs,  present  and  probable  fu- 
ture, indicate.  Rooms  for  library,  commit- 
tees, clubs,  offices,  shower  baths,  lockers,  art 
center,  and  similar  interests  should  be  pro- 
vided for  if  other  agencies  have  not  done  so. 

In  building  for  community  service  the 
community  should  not  make  the  mistake  of 
economizing  because  it  imagines  it  cannot 
afford  the  best.  No  community  should  build 
less  than  the  best.  If  it  does  so,  it  handicaps 
the  community  for  a  generation  or  more; 
and  this  is  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  hghtly 
permitted.  At  the  present  time  religious  or- 
ganizations have  national  agencies  which  are 
serving  to  an  ever  larger  degree  as  a  reserve 
resource  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  local 
groups  to  build  adequately.    Thus  the  gen- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         87 

eral  organization  aids  each  year  the  limited 
number  of  local  groups  that  find  it  necessary 
to  rebuild  and  renders  unnecessary  the  main- 
tenance of  a  replacement  fund  by  the  local 
church  for  an  indefinite  period. 

If  it  is  impossible  to  build  an  entire  build- 
ing at  one  time  it  is  better  to  build  by  units, 
so  that  in  the  course  of  time  a  structure  of 
which  the  community  may  be  proud  will  be 
completed.  It  should  be  remembered  that  a 
community's  solidarity  and  spirit  are  gauged 
largely  by  the  type  of  buildings  it  erects,  and 
the  church  and  community  building,  repre- 
senting as  it  does  the  deepest  interests  of 
man,  should  be  a  living  monument  to  com- 
munity loyalty.  Such  a  building  becomes  a 
lasting  inspiration  to  both  old  and  young, 
pointing  the  way  to  the  highest  and  best  in 
human  life. 

The  building  should  be  strategically  lo- 
cated. As  has  been  suggested,  people  like 
to  come  to  the  center  of  the  village  for  their 
social  and  recreational  life.  The  owner  of 
a  poolroom  or  a  picture  show  that  would 
place  his  building  a  half  mile  in  the  country 
would  not  have  a  large  and  enthusiastic  pat- 
ronage.   The  main  street,  near  the  center  of 


88      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

the  village,  is  the  place  to  be  selected  for  the 
principal  building  of  the  city,  the  commu- 
nity center. 

Sometimes  a  well-meaning  citizen  will  of- 
fer to  a  church  a  plot  of  land  far  out  on  the 
edge  of  a  village  free  of  charge,  provided  the 
church  will  accept  it  for  the  erection  of  the 
new  structure.  Sometimes  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  thinking  they  will  save  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars,  gratefully  accept  the  gift,  thus 
violating  the  principle  expressed  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph.  When  a  business  man 
plans  to  put  up  an  expensive  building  he 
does  not  seek  the  cheapest  land  but  the  best 
location  regardless  of  the  cost  of  the  land. 
For  illustration,  a  lot  on  the  edge  of  a  vil- 
lage may  cost  but  five  hundred  dollars,  while 
a  lot  in  the  center  of  the  village  may  cost 
five  thousand  dollars.  If  the  proposed  build- 
ing to  be  erected  is  to  cost  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, even  the  larger  land  cost  is  but  ten  per 
cent  of  the  total;  and  the  value  of  the  build- 
ing to  the  community  after  erection  on  the 
more  valuable  lot  far  more  than  justifies  the 
extra  expenditure. 

Sometimes  architects  are  inclined  to  sac- 
rifice utihty  to  beauty.    They  are  incUned  to 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         89 

make  the  recreation  room  too  short  because 
a  proper  length  would  not  harmonize  with 
other  lines  in  the  building.  The  good  archi- 
tect accepts  the  beautification  of  a  useful 
building  as  a  challenge  and  does  not  sacrifice 
utihty  because  a  useful  structure  does  not 
embody  some  feature  of  Gothic  or  Old  Eng- 
lish parish  church  architecture.  This  ten- 
dency should  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
Details  as  to  the  slope  of  ground  best 
adapted  to  church  building,  heating,  plumb- 
ing, and  other  features  can  best  be  learned 
by  consultation  with  a  trained  architect. 
Care  should  be  taken  to  see  that  the  recre- 
ation room  is  sufficiently  large  to  carry  on 
the  simpler  games,  such  as  basketball,  when 
the  community  so  desires.  The  limits  rec- 
omjnended  are  fourteen  feet  high  by  forty 
feet  wide  by  sixty  feet  long.  Many  com- 
munities, however,  are  getting  along  with 
rooms  considerably  shorter  and  narrower 
than  this.  The  ceiling  should  be  supported 
by  steel  beams  instead  of  posts.  In  most  sec- 
tions of  the  country  it  is  recommended  that 
recreation  rooms  be  erected  on  the  same  level 
as  the  church  instead  of  in  the  basement,  as 
has  been  the  practice. 


90      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

In  many  sections  of  the  country  there  is  a 
distinct  objection  to  having  the  community 
service  features  and  the  house  of  worship 
under  the  same  roof.  It  is  thought  that  the 
light-heartedness  of  play  time  tends  to  lessen 
the  sacredness  of  the  house  of  worship  and 
to  lessen  respect  for  religious  service.  While 
this  attitude  is  largely  a  matter  of  custom, 
and  while  people  who  have  caught  the  vision 
of  God  can  worship  him  any  place,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  wherever  possible  consideration 
should  be  given  to  this  sentiment  and  the 
community  service  features  of  the  church 
should  be  housed  in  a  separate  building  lo- 
cated adjacent  to  the  church  or  attached  to 
it  by  some  smaller  club  room.  The  two 
should  not  be  located  in  widely  separate 
parts  of  the  village,  as  the  connection  be- 
tween the  two  may  be  lost  and  the  service  of 
the  church  to  the  community  in  this  way  not 
recognized.  Both  house  of  worship  and 
community  or  parish  house  should  be  lo- 
cated near  the  center  of  the  village. 

In  villages  where  there  is  room  for  sev- 
eral houses  of  worship  the  question  of  com- 
munity service  is  much  more  difficult.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  and  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         91 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associations 
have  made  partial  provision  in  some  commu- 
nities on  an  interdenominational  basis.  But 
in  the  ordinary  small  town  there  is  not  room 
for  a  building  for  each  of  these  organiza- 
tions. The  rural  Christian  Associations 
have  been  proceeding  on  the  policy  of  using 
such  buildings  as  are  now  available,  but  it  is 
evident  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  small 
communities,  present  buildings  can  at  best 
be  but  a  makeshift  for  complete  community 
service.  It  is  hoped  that  the  time  will  come 
when  the  several  denominations  will  find 
some  way  of  pooling  their  financial  resources 
so  that  as  religious  organizations  they  can 
provide  a  common  building  for  community 
service.  The  writer  knows  of  no  village  in 
America  where  this  has  yet  been  done.  One 
village  in  New  York  State,  Milton-on-the- 
Hudson,  has  a  community  club  under  the 
direction  of  a  Board  of  Trustees  of  ten  mem- 
bers, two  from  each  of  the  five  denominations 
represented  in  the  village,  the  Catholic 
church  included.  This  club  has  been  very 
successful  in  operating  a  community  house 
and  developing  a  community  program.  It 
has   been    suggested   that   where   property 


92      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

rights  are  involved  one  denomination  might 
make  its  contribution  by  providing  and  main- 
taining the  building,  while  the  other  denom- 
inations might  contribute  the  equivalent  of 
interest  on  building  investment,  depreciation 
and  maintenance  of  building  to  cost  of  oper- 
ation of  the  plant.  It  is  feared,  however, 
that  in  the  course  of  time,  the  original  cost 
of  building  to  one  denomination  would  be 
forgotten  and  the  community  would  demand 
that  all  groups  contribute  to  operating  ex- 
penses according  to  their  membership  or 
some  other  agreed  upon  distribution  of  main- 
tenance expense.  This  should  be  the  ulti- 
mate method  of  maintenance. 

In  a  number  of  communities  one  denom- 
ination has  provided  the  building  and  the 
operating  force,  while  other  denominations 
have  cooperated  by  acting  on  the  Board  of 
Control  and  contributing  what  they  could 
to  the  maintenance  cost.  Such  denomina- 
tional leadership  almost  invariably  leads  in 
the  beginning  to  interdenominational  jeal- 
ousy and  antagonism,  but  in  some  cases  the 
community  has  accepted  the  situation  and 
all  have  cooperated,  it  being  understood  that 
such  provision  for  community  purposes  is 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         93 

not  for  the  purpose  of  proselyting.  Sunday 
school  and  chui'ch  membership  is  encouraged 
in  the  denominations  from  which  the  young 
people  come,  and  thus  a  contribution  by  one 
denomination  has  strengthened  the  work  of 
all  the  churches.  Some  form  of  cooperation 
agreed  upon  for  a  common  development  is 
preferable  and  independent  action  by  one 
denomination  should  be  undertaken  only 
when  the  different  groups  concerned  are  not 
in  a  position  either  by  tradition  or  financial 
ability  to  cooperate  in  a  common  enterprise. 
The  movement  now  is  very  strong  in  the 
direction  of  provision  of  building  and  equip- 
ment for  community  service  by  the  church. 
May  the  church  not  fail  in  doing  justice  to 
its  high  obligation  in  the  type  of  structure 
it  may  erect  I 


94      CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  CHURCH  AND  RURAL 
PUBLIC  THOUGHT 

Many  city  pastors,  and  some  rural  ones 
too,  lament  the  fact  that  people  do  not  come 
to  listen  to  them  preach.  This  condition  is 
in  marked  contrast  to  the  good  old  New 
England  days,  when  the  whole  neighborhood 
would  turn  out  and  listen  to  sermons  four 
hours  long.  It  is  a  question  whether  such 
intellectual  giants  as  Jonathan  Edwards 
built  up  such  congregations  or  whether  such 
congregations  brought  out  the  best  in  Jon- 
athan Edwards. 

People  to-day  go  to  church  for  a  variety 
of  reasons.  But  the  dominant  motives  that 
should  prevail  are  those  of  worship  and  for 
instruction.  All  Christians  should  attend 
religious  services  for  worship  regardless  of 
the  quality  of  the  sermon  or  the  personal  at- 
titude of  the  people  toward  the  minister. 
The  message  from  the  pulpit  should  be  such 
that  it  too  would  attract  for  its  own  sake. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         95 

It  is  the  exceptional  city  minister  that  can 
fill  the  pews  from  week  to  week  and  from 
year  to  year  because  of  the  type  of  message 
given.  The  daily  papers  and  the  many  other 
agencies  for  discussion  of  live  topics  have 
become  so  numerous  that  the  pulpit  has  lost 
much  of  its  original  importance  as  an  agency 
for  instruction.  But  in  the  village  and  the 
open  country  the  pulpit  still  has  a  large  field 
for  service  in  this  respect  and  thus  becomes 
an  especial  challenge  to  the  one  who  wants 
to  develop  as  a  leader  of  thought.  The  vil- 
lage minister  has  an  opportunity  unique  in 
American  life  in  this  respect.  Some  of  the 
greatest  leaders  of  thought  ever  produced 
were  the  product  of  the  village  churches  of 
England  and  Scotland.  There  is  no  reason 
why  the  village  church  of  America  should 
not  become  the  seedbed  for  the  best  contri- 
butions to  religious,  philosophical,  and  liter- 
ary thought  of  the  present  day. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  give  more  than  a 
few  illustrations  of  present  needs  and  oppor- 
tunities for  service  in  this  respect  in  the 
smaller  communities.  One  of  the  first  tasks 
of  the  church  is  the  introduction  of  correct 
thought  in  regard  to  religious  beliefs.    It  is 


96      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

almost  unbelievable  the  amount  of  actual  su- 
perstition and  positively  harmful  beliefs  that 
prevail  under  the  guise  of  religion  not  only 
in  rural  but  in  urban  communities.  An  ex- 
ample of  this  is  the  widespread  belief  in  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  at  an  early  date. 
Educational  institutions  of  national  note  are 
continuously  laboring  to  extend  this  form  of 
belief.  The  question  as  to  whether  Christ 
will  ever  come  again  is  one  that  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  any  immediate  social  signifi- 
cance other  than  it  may  have  some  influence 
on  conduct  as  to  the  method  of  preparation 
for  his  coming.  Those  who  believe  in  such 
coming  may  either  believe  that  all  efforts  at 
social  improvement  now  are  fruitless,  be- 
cause the  ultimate  inauguration  of  the  King- 
dom will  result  from  the  sweeping  away  of 
everything  that  now  exists  and  in  the  inau- 
guration of  a  new  social  order  out  of  the 
ruins  of  the  old.  Or  they  may  believe  that 
the  efforts  of  the  churches  and  other  agen- 
cies now  are  preparing  the  way  for  such  com- 
ing, and  the  inauguration  of  the  Kingdom 
will  be  but  the  next  step  in  an  orderly  proc- 
ess of  social  progress.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  many  of  those  who  are  teaching 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         97 

the  second  coming  are  inclined  to  the  former 
point  of  view;  and  wherever  they  gain  a 
hearing  their  influence  practically  nullifies 
all  efforts  to  enlist  their  followers  in  any  pro- 
gram of  social  improvement. 

The  effect  of  a  belief  in  an  immediate  com- 
ing of  Christ  as  indicated  by  present  world 
conditions  interpreted  in  the  light  of  Old 
and  New  Testament  prophecy  is  to  paralyze 
all  motive  for  social  action.  Such  action,  if 
this  belief  is  correct,  is  useless.  The  devotee 
is  driven  to  the  position  of  finding  his  sole 
religious  duty  that  of  getting  himself  and 
those  in  whom  he  is  interested  ready  to  enter 
the  new  kingdom  through  the  observance  of 
the  personal  elements  in  religious  life. 

Another  belief  that  in  some  sections  has 
a  limited  influence  is  that  of  observance  of 
Saturday  instead  of  Sunday  as  the  day  set 
apart  by  bibhcal  authority  as  the  Sabbath. 
Without  commenting  on  the  rightness  or 
the  wrong  of  the  contention,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  this  belief  has  resulted  in 
some  sections  in  practically  the  breakdown 
of  observance  of  the  Sabbath  by  rural  com- 
munities, without  a  corresponding  gain  in 
Saturday  observance.     Community  soUdar- 


98      CHURCH  COOPERATION 

ity  for  either  social  or  religious  purposes  is 
thus  broken  up.  From  the  social  point  of 
view  this  is  distinctly  unfortunate. 

Again,  in  some  sections  religion  has  taken 
an  extreme  form  of  antagonism  to  anything 
of  a  practical  type.  The  extremes  to  which 
the  emotional  expression  of  religion  has  gone 
have  been  such  that  these  groups  have  be- 
come popularly  known  as  "Holy  Rollers." 
Wlierever  this  type  of  religious  expression 
breaks  out  in  a  rural  community  it  severely 
handicaps  all  efforts  at  making  the  church 
function  as  an  agency  for  rural  progress. 
The  energies  of  such  devotees  are  so  ex- 
hausted in  their  services  that  they  lack  the 
energy,  even  if  they  had  the  inspiration,  to 
link  their  efforts  to  any  program  of  commu- 
nity betterment.  This  group  is  usually 
found  not  only  opposing  progressive  meas- 
ures in  the  church  but  also  opposing  other 
progressive  activities  in  the  community,  such 
as  better  schools,  road  improvement,  etc. 

In  isolated  sections  of  rural  America  all 
over  the  country  may  be  found  groups  of 
Latter  Day  Saints.  These  groups  are  not 
yet  of  sufficient  strength  to  be  of  great  im- 
portance outside  of  Utah  and  a  few  other 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE         99 

Western  States.  But  the  existence  of  an 
organized  group  anywhere,  particularly  if 
it  is  of  a  missionary  character,  is  likely  to 
spread  and  ultimately  become  a  factor  of 
considerable  importance.  Anyone  visiting 
the  Mormon  Temple  at  Salt  Lake  and  read- 
ing on  the  monuments  to  Joseph  and  Hiram 
Smith  the  testimony  in  letters  of  stone  to  the 
effect  that  Joseph  discovered  the  message  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon  on  gold  plates,  and 
that  Hiram  was  the  witness  thereof,  will  real- 
ize how  easy  it  is  to  spread  almost  any  belief 
under  the  guise  of  religion  if  the  children 
are  taught  such  doctrines  during  their  youth. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  to  go  through  the 
whole  catalogue  of  beliefs  finding  expression 
in  the  dogma  of  practically  all  religious  or- 
ganizations, and  in  times  past  dividing  the 
followers  of  Christianity  into  denominational 
groups.  The  most  serious  problems  of  ad- 
justment of  reUgious  institutions  for  com- 
munity service  grow  out  of  these  differences 
in  behef  on  points  of  dogma. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  clearing  the 
field  of  unwholesome  and  injurious  belief 
lies  not  in  writing  polemics  against  them  but 
in  filling  the  minds  of  the  people  with  un- 


100    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

questioned  truth.  As  the  rural  mind  is  di- 
rected to  the  consideration  of  topics  of  vital 
importance  these  things  that  have  crept  in 
and  disturbed  social  order  and  dissipated 
precious  energies  in  fruitless  discussion  will 
disappear  through  lack  of  attention.  On 
the  other  hand,  persecution  will  attract  at- 
tention to  and  arouse  the  fanatical  support 
of  them  and  distract  the  attenion  of  the 
group  from  matters  of  more  vital  impor- 
tance. 

In  addition  to  preaching  those  sermons 
which  keep  alive  in  community  conscious- 
ness the  sense  of  man's  obhgations  to  his 
Maker,  the  significance  and  solemnity  of 
death  and  those  other  epochal  events  in  the 
course  of  human  existence,  and  the  hope 
given  to  man  of  a  fuller  life  through  the  com- 
ing of  Christ,  the  minister  has  certain  great 
moral  ideals  that  he  should  instill  into  the 
minds  of  his  people. 

The  matter  of  honesty  in  dealing  with  both 
the  farmer  and  his  neighbors  both  near  and 
distant  has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  right  attitude  toward  wealth  accumu- 
lation must  also  be  preached  not  only  for  the 
safety  of  the  rural  community  but  also  for 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       101 

the  entire  nation.  By  the  very  nature  of  the 
business  the  vast  majority  of  people  living 
in  small  communities  and  on  the  farms  must 
remain  indefinitely  people  of  modest  means. 
The  possibilities  of  large  wealth  accumula- 
tion are  limited  because  the  farm  must  con- 
tinue to  be  a  small  scale  industry.  It  can  be 
improved  so  as  to  afford  adequate  leisure. 
But  farm  life  does  not  promise  large  enjoy- 
ment to  those  of  an  epicurean  turn  of  mind. 
The  ideal  of  the  farm  must  be  that  of  pro- 
ducing wealth  so  that  the  modest  comforts  of 
life  may  be  insured.  But  the  minister  must 
exalt  the  appreciation  of  those  things  that 
may  be  obtained  without  lavish  expenditure 
of  money,  such  as  local  entertainment  pro- 
duced by  the  community  itself,  literature, 
music,  and  art ;  and  the  simple  pleasures  that 
come  from  democratic  association  with  inti- 
mate acquaintances. 

It  is  believed  that  with  all  the  material 
progress  of  this  country,  it  has  had  to  sacri- 
fice many  things  that  are  worth  far  more 
than  the  types  of  enjoyment  obtained  by 
slavish  imitation  of  the  extremely  wealthy 
leisure  class  in  the  cities.  The  exhortation 
to  preach  the  values  of  the  simple  pleasures 


102    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

possible  in  smaller  communities  is  not  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  people  contented  with  a 
lot  that  cannot  be  improved,  but  because  it 
is  believed  that  the  smaller  communities  to- 
day contain  within  themselves  and  their 
ideals  the  seed  of  rejuvenation  of  all  hfe, 
and  that  a  greater  contribution  can  be  made 
by  rural  communities  to  civilization  by  ad- 
hering to  their  ideals  than  by  being  diverted 
from  them  by  the  money-seeking,  material- 
istic ideals  of  the  urban  centers.  The  best  in 
rural  ideals  must  ultimately  become  the 
ideals  of  the  city  if  we  are  to  avoid  the  degen- 
eration that  will  inevitably  follow  a  too  ma- 
terialistic urban  civilization. 

The  pastor  should  be  able  to  bring  to  his 
people  from  time  to  time  the  interpretation 
of  national  and  world  events  in  terms  of  their 
relation  to  the  advance  of  religious  prog- 
ress. This  obligation  will  require  constant 
and  wide  reading  about  the  social  move- 
ments of  the  time.  In  the  more  progressive 
communities  many  of  the  farmers  and  their 
families  will  have  access  to  literature  that 
will  enable  them  to  form  their  own  conclu- 
sions to  a  large  degree.  But  not  many  of 
them,  even  though  they  be  college  gradu- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        103 

ates,  will  have  the  time  to  read  as  widely  as 
they  would  like  on  any  of  the  great  changes 
taking  place;  and  they  will  welcome  an  in- 
telligent interpretation  of  these  by  the  one 
who  has  the  larger  opportunities  for  such 
service. 

Finally,  the  preacher  must  be  a  prophet. 
He  must  have  caught  the  vision  of  tenden- 
cies in  human  life  and  be  able  to  bring  to  his 
people  the  evidences  of  the  hand  of  God 
working  out  the  course  of  the  human  race 
in  the  infinite  stream  of  human  history.  He 
must  believe,  with  Tennyson,  in  a  "far  off 
divine  event,  toward  which  the  whole  crea- 
tion moves,"  or  with  Shakespeare  when  he  said 
"There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
rough-hew  them  how  we  will."  If  he  can 
bring  his  people  to  see  that,  even  though  they 
may  be  living  in  some  obscure  corner  of  the 
earth,  they  have  a  part  in  the  great  move- 
ments going  on,  and  that  they  can  render  a 
service  by  doing  what  they  are  able  in  sup- 
porting the  programs  for  which  the  church 
stands,  he  will  be  contributing  his  share 
to  the  wholesome  attitude  needed  in  our 
rural  communities. 


104    CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  VII 

ADJUSTING      THE      LOCAL 

CHURCH     TO     THE 

COMMUNITY 

In  his  book  on  Social  Control  Professor 
Ross  has  pointed  out  that  certain  institu- 
tions are  essentially  conservative  in  their 
nature.  They  are  solid,  permanent  organi- 
zations but  are  not  inclined  to  assume  lead- 
ership in  social  progress.  He  includes  in 
this  hst  the  church.  The  fact  that  the  church 
is  a  conservative  institution  is  not  necessar- 
ily a  criticism  of  it.  Other  agencies  develop 
new  phases  of  social  expression,  sometimes 
in  actual  opposition  to  conservative  agencies. 
The  good  innovations  live  and  after  they 
have  demonstrated  their  utility  the  conserv- 
ative institutions  such  as  the  church  and  the 
state  take  them  over  and  insure  their  per- 
manence. 

The  rapid  advance  of  the  social  spirit  in 
modern  life  has  outstripped  existing  agencies 
in   their   preparation  to  meet  the  new  ap- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       105 

proach  to  the  solution  of  problems  of  living. 
Many  forms  of  existing  institutions  were 
created  under  entirely  different  conditions 
and  to  meet  different  needs.  To-day  these 
old  forms  do  not  adapt  themselves  to  new 
demands,  and  in  many  cases  prevent  effec- 
tive action  on  the  part  of  religious  organiza- 
tions that  are  ready  in  spirit  to  broaden  their 
programs  to  include  the  new  demands  upon 
the  conservative  organization. 

The  minister,  trained  for  the  modern  serv- 
ice of  the  church  to  the  community,  cannot 
solve  alone  all  the  problems  of  maladjust- 
ment he  finds  in  his  local  community.  He 
finds  that  the  contacts  and  interests  of  his 
local  church  organization  are  far  broader 
than  the  interests  of  the  local  group  he  is 
called  to  serve;  and  that  in  many  cases  his 
local  efforts  are  nullified  by  these  larger 
contacts.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  and  suc- 
ceeding chapters  to  outhne  some  of  the  con- 
ditions existing  within  the  church  itself  that 
must  be  adjusted  before  it  can  act  most  ef- 
fectively in  meeting  the  challenge  discussed 
in  preceding  chapters. 

The  first  and  probably  most  important 
problem  is  that  of  enlarging  the  vision  of 


106    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

church  officials,  ministers,  and  people  as  to 
the  need  for  broadening  the  program  of  the 
church  and  as  to  the  need  of  a  statesman- 
like reorganization  of  adjustment  of  the 
church  to  the  community. 

It  is  believed  that  quite  generally  the 
membership  of  the  larger  religious  organi- 
zations in  this  country  are  now  in  sympathy 
with  the  principle  that  the  church  should 
have  a  social-service  program.  There  is  still 
wide  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  form  that 
service  should  take.  In  too  manj^  cases  there 
is  no  opinion  at  all ;  and  while  admitting  the 
principle,  active  opposition  develops  to  any 
attempt  to  put  the  principle  into  practice  in 
a  specific  project.  This  condition  is  to  be 
found  most  marked  in  those  sections  of  the 
country  that  are  not  in  the  direct  line  of 
thought  movements,  or  where  li\ang  condi- 
tions are  such  as  to  make  rural  life  monot- 
onous. The  monotony  of  the  plains  is  as 
deadening  as  is  the  lack  of  contact  of  the 
mountain  valley;  and  both  fields  offer  fruit- 
ful ground  for  the  spread  of  unsocial  tj^pes 
of  religious  expression. 

The  solution  of  this  phase  of  adjustment 
of  the  church  to  community  needs  hes  in  a 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        107 

patient  educational  program  carried  on  by 
the  minister  of  the  gospel.  He  must  be  a 
man  of  broad  vision  and  must  have  the  full- 
est appreciation  of  the  slowness  with  which 
the  rural  public  mind  works.  He  must  be 
everlastingly  tactful  and  not  attempt  more 
than  the  simplest  advances  at  the  beginning 
and  not  more  than  one  at  a  time.  He  should 
have  at  hand  an  abundance  of  educational 
material  in  the  way  of  literature,  lantern 
slides,  and  periodicals  which  can  be  used  in 
showing  what  actually  happens  when  the 
church  embarks  on  a  broader  program  of 
rural  service.  A  national  educational  pro- 
gram of  this  type  will  in  a  few  years  create 
a  demand  that  must  be  met  and  that  rural 
churches  will  pay  well  for  as  the  value  of 
such  work  will  be  recognized. 

The  more  serious  phase  of  this  problem  is 
the  lack  of  adequate  preparation  for  this 
service  on  the  part  of  the  ministry.  In  one 
of  the  leading  denominations  (Methodist 
Episcopal)  over  twenty-nine  per  cent  of  the 
charges  are  cared  for  by  supplies,  men  who 
by  reason  of  educational  preparation,  age, 
or  for  some  other  cause  are  not  now  and,  in 
a  large  proportion  of  cases,  never  will  be 


108    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

eligible  to  membership  in  the  Conferences. 
Of  the  remainder,  only  a  small  proportion 
are  graduates  of  schools  of  higher  learning, 
such  as  colleges  and  theological  seminaries. 
At  a  time  when  a  large  number  of  those  liv- 
ing in  rural  communities  are  either  agricul- 
tural college  graduates  or  have  attended 
short  courses  in  agriculture,  it  becomes  ap- 
parent that  an  uneducated  ministry  is  be- 
coming a  menace  to  the  future  of  the  rural 
church. 

But  of  those  who  have  had  the  advantages 
of  a  college  or  theological  seminary  train- 
ing, the  type  of  training  has  not  fitted  them 
for  effective  rural  service.  The  training  of 
ministers  has  gone  through  the  same  process 
as  other  types  of  training.  It  was  once 
thought  that  since  the  sole  business  of  the 
minister  was  the  personal  appeal  to  accept 
Christ,  with  the  emphasis  on  the  personal 
atonement  features  of  Christianity  rather 
than  on  the  principles  of  Christian  living, 
the  same  type  of  training  would  fit  one  to 
deliver  the  message  whether  he  was  in  the 
slums  of  the  city,  on  the  shores  of  Africa,  or 
in  the  mountains  of  Colorado.  Moreover, 
for  some  reason,  it  appears  to  have  been 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        109 

accepted  that  the  rural  ministry  was  the 
simplest  of  all  and  that  any  one  could  be  a 
rural  minister.  It  would  be  amusing  if  it 
were  not  so  tragic  to  accept  the  testimony  of 
some  of  those  who  have  not  yet  seen  that  the 
rural  ministry  is  a  type  demanding  such  a 
cosmopohtan  understanding  of  human  na- 
ture and  of  conditions  of  human  existence 
that  it  demands  the  best  intellects  and  the 
highest  type  of  missionary  spirit  to  carry  on 
successfully.  We  have  heard  of  college  pres- 
idents recommending  young  men  for  impor- 
tant rural  positions  because  the  young  man 
was  "not  ambitious  for  any  important  work 
in  the  church."  It  has  been  known  that  offi- 
cials in  the  church  would  bid  for  theological 
seminary  graduates  with  the  assurance  that 
while  they  would  have  to  accept  an  "unde- 
sirable" rural  charge  for  a  year  or  so,  they 
would  soon  be  "promoted."  The  writer 
knows  of  at  least  one  young  Negro  minister, 
a  holder  of  a  Master's  degree  from  a  large 
educational  institution,  whose  major  work 
for  his  higher  degree  was  in  the  dead  lan- 
guages. The  attitude  of  our  educational  in- 
stitutions, and  the  attitude  in  public  thought 
has  been  that  progress  for  the  individual  has 


110    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

been  in  the  direction  of  getting  away  from 
the  country  instead  of  remaining  with  rural 
folk  and  giving  one's  life  to  the  advancement 
of  the  group  as  a  whole ;  and  the  courses  of 
study  have  had  primarily  in  mind  the  per- 
sonal appeal  rather  than  that  of  dealing  with 
man  in  his  particular  environment. 

It  is  now  recognized  that  modern  life  de- 
mands a  speciahzed  ministry.  The  one  who 
can  handle  successfully  a  rural  industrial  or 
a  downtown  urban  situation  may  not  be  at 
all  fitted  to  deal  with  the  problems  of  the 
village  or  the  open  country.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  one  who  can  serve  farmers  success* 
fully  might  not  be  at  all  fitted  to  fill  a  metro- 
politan pulpit.  Beginnings  only  have  been 
made  in  attempting  to  adjust  educational 
work  to  meet  this  modern  demand.  In  the 
meantime  the  problem  remains  of  the  min- 
isters trained  under  former  conditions,  if 
trained  at  all.  Many  of  them  have  not  yet 
caught  the  vision  of  the  larger  program  of 
the  church ;  and  of  those  who  have  caught  this 
vision  the  handhng  of  the  tools  of  the  new 
program  is  such  a  delicate  task  that  many 
failures  are  sure  to  be  recorded.  It  will  take 
years  to  bring  the  church  to  the  place  where 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        111 

it  can  meet  successfully  the  modern  demands 
upon  it. 

The  second  great  problem  is  that  of  mal- 
adjustment in  thought.  Protestantism  is 
still  suffering  from  the  effects  of  extreme 
individualism  in  religious  belief.  Strong 
leaders,  obsessed  with  some  one  variation  in 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  have  pulled 
off  from  the  main  body  of  the  church  and 
have  started  independent  organizations  com- 
mitted to  the  development  of  the  particular 
interpretation  they  have  made.  When  once 
these  organizations  have  been  formed  and 
have  secured  a  financial  backing,  they  have 
continued  to  spread,  until  to-day  rural 
America  presents  the  spectacle  of  religious 
forces  agreeing  on  the  broad  general 
program  of  the  relation  of  the  church  to  com- 
munity needs  but  paralyzed  because  of  dis- 
sensions over  less  essential  principles  of  the- 
ological dogma.  The  reasons  for  separate 
organizations  have  often  been  forgotten  and 
loyalty  to  a  particular  organization  as  such 
has  taken  its  place. 

The  solution  of  this  problem  is  not  that  of 
attempting  to  eliminate  differences  in  dog- 
matic belief  by  argument,  but  of  emphasiz- 


112    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

ing  the  points  of  agreement  of  the  various 
religious  groups.  Error  and  nonessential 
dividing  lines  will  disappear  if  neglected. 
But  if  they  are  agitated,  they  will  thrive  un- 
der persecution  and  conditions  will  be  worse 
than  ever. 

The  third  problem  is  that  of  maladjust- 
ment of  buildings  to  community  needs.  This 
problem  presents  itself  in  two  aspects :  first, 
that  of  location  of  church  buildings,  and, 
second,  that  of  location  of  pastors'  resi- 
dences. In  the  original  settlement  of  this 
country,  people  located  their  new  homes  in 
neighborhoods  partly  for  social  and  eco- 
nomic purposes  and  partly  for  protection. 
Where  these  new  groups  were  founded  the 
church  building  soon  found  a  place.  As  the 
communities  grew,  and  aided  in  the  course 
of  time  by  ambitious  national  agencies,  the 
sectarian  interests  mentioned  above  estab- 
lished new  churches  to  care  for  those  of  each 
particular  belief  until  many  communities 
soon  became  overchurched.  The  rapid  de- 
crease in  open-country,  and  even  village, 
population  which  began  during  the  70's  of 
the  past  century  and  which  has  continued  to 
the  present  made  the  problem  still  worse,  un- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       113 

til  to-day  probably  the  least  efBcient  institu- 
tion in  all  rural  life  is  the  rural  church. 

Moreover,  the  first  settlements  did  not  al- 
ways mark  the  spot  of  permanent  develop- 
ment of  population  and  interest  centers.  As 
time  has  passed,  many  of  the  places  which 
it  was  once  thought  would  be  permanent  cen- 
ters have  lost  their  preeminence  and  others 
have  taken  their  place,  until  now  many  very 
small  communities  have  too  many  churches, 
and  others  are  lacking  in  adequate  facilities 
for  religious  service. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  it  is  believed 
that  rural  population  and  agricultural  ten- 
dencies are  sufficiently  well  known  to  enable 
those  interested  in  rural  hfe  development  to 
determine  what  are  the  most  suitable  centers 
for  community  development.  The  Inter- 
church  World  Movement,  had  it  been  car- 
ried to  a  successful  conclusion,  would  have 
gone  far  toward  determining  those  centers 
for  the  entire  United  States.  As  it  is,  the 
Movement  made  possible  such  determina- 
tion for  about  one  fifth  of  the  United  States 
and  the  task  of  completing  the  survey  may 
be  accomplished  in  the  course  of  time. 

When  this  task  is  completed,    then    the 


114    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

challenge  to  the  churches  of  America  will  be 
to  so  readjust  the  location  of  their  church 
buildings  and  to  remodel  them  in  such  a  way 
as  to  be  adapted  to  the  present  and  probable 
future  growth  of  communities  so  determined. 
This  work  is  scarcely  begun,  but  it  is  believed 
that  it  has  gone  far  enough  to  insure  its  ulti- 
mate achievement.  When  this  is  done,  then 
the  local  chm-ch  will  be  in  a  position  to  deal 
most  effectively  with  the  community  prob- 
lems mentioned  in  preceding  chapters. 

The  situation  as  to  location  of  pastors' 
residences  is  even  more  serious  than  that  of 
location  of  church  buildings.  During  the 
pioneer  period  of  church  organization  minis- 
ters were  under  the  necessity  of  dividing 
their  efforts  among  a  considerable  mmiber  of 
small  groups.  These  were  organized  into 
circuits  and  the  pastor's  residence  was  pro- 
vided at  the  point  either  where  the  original 
church  was  established  or  where  it  was  most 
convenient  for  him  to  serve  the  preaching 
points  imder  his  care.  Each  denomination 
developed  its  own  work  regardless  of  other 
groups  and  in  many  cases  from  the  same 
common  center,  so  that  we  now  have  in  rural 
and  village  organization  pastors'  residences 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       115 

centralized  in  the  minority  of  rural  commu- 
nities and  the  great  majority  of  such  com- 
munities without  resident  pastoral  care. 

In  the  State  of  Ohio,  for  example,  in  one 
cojLinty  of  twenty-four  communities  but 
twelve  have  resident  pastors  and  in  these 
twelve  communities  thirty-nine  pastors  re- 
side. In  another  of  sixteen  conmiunities  but 
eight  have  resident  pastors.  Yet  in  each 
county  there  are  enough  ministers  to  sup- 
ply each  community  with  a  resident  pas- 
tor, if  readjustment  were  to  be  made. 
In  the  northeastern  part  of  the  State  on 
a  single  Methodist  district  are  to  be  found 
two  instances  of  Methodist  and  Presbyterian 
pastors  living  in  the  same  village  and  going 
on  alternate  Sundays  to  another  village,  in 
one  instance  larger  than  that  wherein  the 
ministers  live.  The  facts  as  to  the  growth 
and  decline  of  churches  with  resident  or  non- 
resident ministers  elsewhere  present  (see 
Church  Growth  and  Decline  in  Ohio)  are  a 
sufficient  indication  of  the  effects  of  malad- 
justment of  pastoral  residences  to  rm^al  com- 
mimity  needs.  Since  the  modern  demand 
of  rural  life  upon  the  church  is  for  commu- 
nity leadership  as  well  as  for  holding  Sun- 


116    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

day  worship,  it  is  clear  that  no  adequate  pro- 
gram of  church  leadership  in  rural  life  can 
be  worked  out  until  this  vital  need  of  read- 
justment of  pastoral  residences  to  commu- 
nity service  is  met. 

A  third  serious  problem  is  that  of  lack  of 
coordination  of  denominational  effort  in 
community  service.  Where  two  or  more  reli- 
gious organizations  find  a  place  in  the  same 
small  community,  no  plan  has  yet  been  suc- 
cessfully tried  whereby  these  organizations 
as  such  have  been  brought  into  harmonious 
and  continuous  action  for  community  serv- 
ice. The  presence  of  two  or  three  ministers 
of  social  vision  in  the  same  small  community 
is  not  always  an  asset,  since  small  communi- 
ties do  not  have  a  place  for  more  than  one 
leader  and  sectarian  interests  forbid  cooper- 
ation under  the  leadership  of  either  of  the 
church  pastors.  This  situation  has  given  rise 
to  such  organizations  as  the  Christian  Asso- 
ciations, the  Sunday  School  Associations, 
and  a  large  number  of  nonreligious  agen- 
cies now  trying  to  provide  for  community 
leadership  independent  of  the  church.  It  is 
intended  here  to  call  attention  to  the  prob- 
lem.   A  suggestion  as  to  methods  of  solu- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       117 

tion  will  be  taken  up  more  at  length  in  a 
succeeding  chapter. 

A  fourth  serious  problem  resulting  from 
the  above  is  lack  of  adequate  support  for 
rural  religious  institutions.  Owing  to  the 
general  lack  of  financial  resources  of  rural 
communities  as  compared  with  the  urban 
centers,  they  have  not  been  able  to  compete 
financially  with  city  churches  in  bidding  for 
men  who  have  high  standards  of  living  and 
who  demand  large  financial  returns  for  serv- 
ices rendered.  This  condition  will  probably 
continue  indefinitely  because  of  the  tendency 
of  large-scale  industrial  production  to  cen- 
tralize wealth  control  in  urban  centers ;  that 
is,  unless  the  economic  motive  is  taken  from 
Christian  service  through  the  equalization  of 
salaries.  This  is  a  solution  much  to  be  de- 
sired, but  it  is  feared  that  pastors  will  not 
take  kindly  to  such  a  movement;  and  mem- 
bers of  city  churches  will  continue  to  con- 
tribute to  the  support  of  their  own  particu- 
lar pastor  instead  of  to  general  pastoral 
support.  But  the  weakness  in  support  has 
been  seriously  increased  because  of  dividing 
of  such  resources  as  rural  communities  have 
among  so  many  different  agencies.     Many 


118    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

communities  that  could  support  a  pastor  at 
two  thousand  dollars  or  more  a  year  now 
have  men  serving  denominations  at  one  thou- 
sand dollars  per  year  or  less. 

The  same  is  true  of  church  building. 
When  five  church  buildings  must  be  erected 
and  maintained  for  sectarian  purposes  in  a 
town  where  there  is  room  for  but  one  school 
building  there  is  httle  wonder  that  the  con- 
trast between  church  buildings  and  other 
rural  institutional  buildings  is  so  marked. 
And  it  is  little  wonder  that  when  people  be- 
gin to  think  in  community  terms  they  are 
inclined  to  pass  by  the  church  as  an  institu- 
tion offering  hope  of  community  service  con- 
servation and  turn  either  to  the  school  or  to 
some  other  agency  that  they  hope  will  serve 
the  purpose. 

Closely  akin  to  the  problem  of  inadequate 
support  for  the  country  minister  and  the 
country  church  is  that  contention  often  made 
that  the  job  of  a  country  preacher  does  not 
offer  as  great  a  challenge  as  does  that  of 
service  in  other  branches  of  church  work.  It 
is  believed  that  this  contention  is  erroneous 
because  the  rural  work,  while  not  demanding 
the  same  qualities  of  service  as  other  types, 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       119 

does  demand  qualities  of  its  own  that  equal, 
if  they  do  not  exceed,  those  of  the  city  pulpit. 
The  abiUty  to  serve  people  long  and  contin- 
uously in  close  personal  relation  to  them; 
to  deal  patiently  with  conservatism;  to  en- 
dure the  hardships  of  living  under  conditions 
far  below  what  are  to  be  found  in  city  envi- 
ronments; to  get  the  support  of  the  people 
for  progressive  measures,  and  to  keep  alive 
mentally  in  an  environment  that  is  not  the 
most  conducive  to  study  because  of  lack  of 
reading  facilities  and  because  of  the  ease 
with  which  one  may  shirk  the  means  of  per- 
sonal growth — all  these  make  the  task  one 
for  the  specially  capable  and  devoted. 

But  if  there  is  truth  in  the  statement  that 
the  country  ministry  does  not  offer  the  op- 
portunity for  the  exercise  of  personal  abil- 
ities required  by  the  city  pulpit,  then,  unless 
we  frankly  recognize  that  the  limit  of  possi- 
bility of  building  up  the  rural  work  is  to 
alleviate  an  unavoidable  discrepancy  in  per- 
sonal challenge,  it  becomes  necessary  to  so 
reorganize  the  local  parish  that  it  will  be  a 
challenge  fit  to  attract  the  best  minds  in  the 
church. 

The  first  step  already  has  been  mentioned ; 


120    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

that  is,  to  adjust  relationships  between  de- 
nominations so  that  a  minister  will  have  sole 
responsibility  for  community  leadership. 

The  second  is  to  enlarge  the  parishes  un- 
der the  control  of  one  pastor  that  he  will 
have  ample  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  abil- 
ities. In  some  sections  of  the  country  two 
or  more  communities  may  still  have  to  be 
assigned  to  one  minister,  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  he  will  develop  local  volunteer  lead- 
ership in  the  respective  communities,  or  have 
adequate  assistance  in  the  way  of  special 
workers  among  the  children  and  in  the 
homes  and  have  directors  of  religious  edu- 
cation for  full  or  part  time  in  each  conamu- 
nity.  In  most  sections  of  the  country  the 
communities  are  now  of  such  a  size  as  to 
demand  the  full  time  of  a  paid  minister  and 
to  pay  a  satisfactory  salary  for  services 
rendered. 

The  third  is  to  increase  the  functions  of 
the  pastorate  so  that  people  will  be  willing  to 
pay  more  for  the  service  rendered.  This  re- 
sults directly  from  the  adoption  of  the  larger 
program  for  the  church  herein  recom- 
mended. 

The  practice — still  all  too  rare — of  sup- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        121 

plying  the  pastor  with  an  automobile  for 
pastoral  work,  should  be  encouraged  every- 
where, particularly  when  the  charge  has  a 
pastor  who  has  the  vision  of  the  broader  pro- 
gram of  the  church  and  is  specially  trained 
for  his  work.  There  are  complications  in  the 
connectional  system  of  making  appoint- 
ments that  tend  to  prevent  liberality  in  this 
respect.  When  a  charge  is  brought  up  to 
adequate  self-support  the  tendency  is  too 
often  to  make  the  charge  a  place  to  "take 
care"  of  a  Conference  member  of  that  grade 
regardless  of  his  fitness  to  follow  up  the  type 
of  program  introduced  by  his  predecessor. 
The  taking  of  the  automobile  by  the  depart- 
ing pastor  deprives  the  community  of  its 
use.  Leaving  it  for  the  use  of  an  inefficient 
pastor  is  too  great  a  burden  on  the  conrniu- 
nity.  Experience  will  determine  the  best 
means  of  handling  this  problem  and  should 
ultimately  put  ministers  on  the  same  basis 
as  to  having  means  of  transportation  fur- 
nished as  County  Agricultural  Agents, 
County  Superintendents  of  Schools,  Chris- 
tian Association  Secretaries,  etc. 

The  soldier  in  the  ranks  will  probably 
never  be  looked  upon  as  in  the  same  grade 


122    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

of  responsible  position  as  the  captain  of  the 
company.  So  the  country  minister  has  a 
right  to  look  forward  in  due  time  to  "pro- 
motion" in  natural  channels;  that  is,  to  the 
district  superintendency.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  too  often  at  the  present  time,  the  rural 
minister  is  discouraged  from  remaining  in 
the  rural  work  because  he  sees  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  positions  in  the 
church  that  are  recognized  as  personal  pro- 
motions are  filled  from  the  city  pulpits.  His 
course  of  advance  is  now  from  the  country 
pulpit  to  the  city  pulpit,  thence  to  the  dis- 
trict superintendency  or  detached  service, 
thence  to  the  bishopric,  a  position  very  few 
ministers  refuse  if  offered.  The  rural  work 
would  be  strengthened  if  rural  district  su- 
perintendencies  were  filled  by  rural  men 
who  have  demonstrated  their  ability  to  build 
up  a  rural  charge  successfully,  and  then 
if  these  same  rural  district  superintendents 
were  to  have  an  opportunity  to  fill  the  high- 
est possible  positions  in  the  church,  thus 
bringing  to  the  highest  administrative  offices 
of  the  church  the  tried  experience  that  comes 
from  building  up  a  district  in  Methodism. 
When  the  necessity  of  leaving  the  rural  work 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       123 

in  order  to  get  "promotion"  is  eliminated 
there  will  be  a  marked  strengthening  of  loy- 
alty to  the  rural  work. 

The  illustrations  given  have  been  taken 
from  Methodist  Episcopal  experience. 
Other  denominations  have  similar  problems, 
but  probably  to  a  less  degree  because  of  the 
more  marked  form  of  localized  democracy 
in  church  polity. 

If  the  churches  of  America  permit  this 
crisis  of  lack  of  adjustment  of  church  to 
community  needs  to  pass  unchallenged,  and 
if  they  delay  in  making  the  adjustments 
needed,  the  time  will  soon  come  when  other 
agencies,  supported  by  rural  communities, 
will  make  provision  for  these  needs  and  the 
opportunity  of  the  church  will  be  gone  indef- 
initely. Other  agencies  will  be  performing 
a  real  Christian  service,  and  the  church,  by 
reason  of  its  failure  to  live  up  to  the  demands 
upon  it,  will  have  an  increasingly  difficult 
task  of  justifying  its  existence  so  far  as  rela- 
tionship to  this  world  is  concerned. 


124    CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INTERDENOMINATIONAL 
READJUSTMENT 

Rural  progress  under  church  leadership 
has  been  much  like  the  first  drops  of  water 
on  a  placid  lake  at  the  beginning  of  a  rain. 
Little  rises  of  water  appear  and  some  waves 
circle  out,  but  the  ultimate  level  is  not  much 
raised.  So  with  the  church.  Here  and  there 
a  minister  stirs  up  some  local  community, 
some  definite  progress  is  made,  attention 
is  attracted  from  other  communities  and 
they  may  have  a  few  symptoms  of  a  rise, 
but  too  often  the  minister  moves,  another 
comes,  and  the  general  level  of  community 
life  falls  back  to  what  it  was  before. 

The  difficulty  is  that  with  the  overlapping 
of  interdenominational  jurisdictions  it  is  im- 
possible for  any  group  to  lead  in  progress 
outside  of  the  local  communit5\  Methodists 
cannot  lead  in  a  county  program  because 
Baptists  and  Presbyterians  will  not  follow 
them.     Neither  can  the  other  groups  lead 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       125 

because  Methodists  are  not  gifted  in  follow- 
ing the  leadership  of  other  denominations. 
It  is  perfectly  natural  and  justifiable  that 
this  should  be  so.  Before  the  churches  of 
America,  Protestant  or  Cathohc,  can  render 
the  entire  service  demanded  of  them  there 
must  be  a  thoroughgoing  system  of  interde- 
nominational cooperation  worked  out  which 
will  insure  joint  responsibility  of  all  denom- 
inations concerned  in  providing  for  commu- 
nity leadership  on  a  large  scale.  If  this  is 
impossible,  then  the  inevitable  alternative 
must  be  accepted  of  passing  by  the  churches 
of  America  in  carrying  out  comprehensive 
plans  of  progress  and  of  turning  to  other 
agencies  for  this  service. 

During  the  past,  largely  owing  to  the  ap- 
parently Tiopeless  situation  so  far  as  inter- 
denominational cooperation  is  concerned. 
Christian  organizations,  such  as  Christian 
Associations  and  Sunday  School  Associa- 
tions, have  sprung  up  to  do  for  the  denom- 
inations and  for  the  ministers  what  they 
could  not  do  under  present  conditions.  These 
agencies  have  done  notable  work.  They 
have  accomplished  much  in  preparing  the 
way  for  a  nation-wide  recognition  of  what 


126    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

the  broad  function  of  the  church  is;  they 
have  brought  representatives  of  all  denom- 
inations together  and  have  gradually  in- 
creased the  social  spirit  while  at  the  same 
time  lessening  the  emphasis  upon  those 
things  which  have  divided  the  Christian 
Church  into  so  many  isolated  camps.  They 
have  pioneered  and  experimented.  They 
have  had  failures  as  well  as  successes,  but 
their  failures  have  been  a  real  contribution 
to  the  sum  total  of  human  experience  and 
have  taught  us  many  things  that  should  be 
avoided.  The  service  rendered  by  these 
agencies  must  ever  be  remembered  as  of  the 
most  vital  and  important  character. 

But  it  will  be  admitted  by  representatives 
of  all  organizations  that  a  large  part  of  what 
is  now  found  in  the  programs  of  those  other 
rehgious  organizations,  "arms"  of  the 
church,  is  a  legitimate  part  of  the  work  that 
should  be  supervised  by  the  minister  of  a 
community  program  and  included  in  his 
program,  and  that  in  those  communities 
where  such  trained  pastoral  leadership  ex- 
ists the  functions  of  these  other  agencies  can 
be  materially  modified  and  their  activities 
directed  into  still  further  new  and  untried 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       127 

fields  of  endeavor.  The  church  needs  organ- 
izations supported  from  funds  not  coming 
through  the  regular  channels  founded  on  the 
budgets  of  individual  churches.  These  sub- 
sidiary organizations  can  go  ahead  with  ex- 
perimentation, and  their  failures  do  not 
bring  the  discredit  to  the  parent  organization 
that  they  would  if  done  by  the  church  di- 
rectly. On  the  other  hand,  their  successes 
can  be  adopted  into  the  regular  program  of 
the  church  and  thus  conserved.  Complete 
control  of  experimentation  or  demonstration 
work  is  hkely  to  destroy  or  prevent  initia- 
tive, which  is  the  soul  of  progress. 

In  adjusting  problems  between  denomi- 
nations in  local  communities  a  number  of 
plans  have  been  tried  with  greater  or  less 
success.  One  of  the  oldest  is  that  of  the 
"union"  church.  This  is  a  type  of  organiza- 
tion in  which  the  people  of  the  local  com- 
munity, tiring  of  the  uneconomic  system  of 
interdenominational  competition,  and  with- 
out hope  of  uniting  on  any  one  of  the  local 
organizations  represented,  decide  to  separate 
from  all  and  form  themselves  into  an  inde- 
pendent local  organization. 

No  large  denomination  to-day  is  favor- 


128    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

able  to  the  so-called  "union"  church;  and 
all  are  opposed  to  the  plan  sometimes 
followed  by  rural  industrial  concerns  of 
erecting  a  church  building  open  to  any- 
one who  pretends  to  speak  with  authority 
about  religious  matters.  The  "union" 
church  usually  begins  with  enthusiasm, 
but  because  of  lack  of  outside  contacts,  be- 
cause of  lack  of  continuity  of  program,  be- 
cause of  lack  of  a  broad  missionary  spirit,  it 
is  generally  shortlived  and  gives  way  to  some 
church  with  denominational  affiliations.  The 
"union"  church  without  denominational  affil- 
iations should  not  be  confused  with  the  "com- 
munity" church  with  denominational  con- 
nection. It  is  the  latter  type  that  most 
religious  organizations  are  now  agreed  is 
most  desirable  as  the  solution  of  the  inex- 
cusable overchurching  now  existing  in  many 
communities. 

In  these  days  of  get-together  movements 
denominational  leaders  should  think  clearly 
with  reference  to  "federated"  churches.  A 
few  of  these  have  had  a  fairly  long  life.  But 
their  growth  in  the  past  fifteen  years  has 
not  been  such  as  to  inspire  confidence  that 
they  oflPer  a  satisfactory  solution  to  the  over- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       129 

churched  situation.  The  "federated"  church 
idea  is  not  in  harmony  with  a  connectional 
polity  nor  with  the  principle  of  world  democ- 
racy with  centralization  of  administrative 
responsibility  for  carrying  out  democrati- 
cally adopted  plans  implied  in  that  polity. 
Local  federation  involves  giving  of  full 
power  of  selection  of  pastors  and  of  deter- 
mination of  poKcies  to  the  local  congrega- 
tion. Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  occa- 
sional failures  of  the  connectional  system  in 
finding  suitable  pastors,  or  in  other  ways,  it 
is  nevertheless  true  that  this  system  has  a 
vitality  and  efficiency  that  are  now  being  rec- 
ognized by  many  of  the  leading  religious  or- 
ganizations. The  polity  of  the  "federated" 
church  is  congregational;  and  extreme  Con- 
gregationalism and  connectionahsm  do  not 
mix  readily  so  far  as  polity  is  concerned. 
The  growth  of  the  one  form  involves  the 
decline  of  the  other.  This  is  why  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  for  example,  has 
developed  so  little  sympathy  for  the  "fed- 
erated" church  idea. 

Far  different  from  this  is  allocation  of 
responsibihty  for  community  leadership. 
This  insures  leadership  to  one  denomination 


130    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

or  the  other.  Then  the  local  congregations 
can  work  out  their  problems  of  adjustment 
as  local  conditions  indicate  is  best.  Usually- 
some  form  of  affiliation  in  worship  and  in 
sharing  local  expenses  with  continued  sep- 
aration of  support  of  missionary  and  other 
benevolent  enterprises  has  proven  the  most 
satisfactory  method  of  local  adjustment. 
By  this  method  connectional  interests  are 
preserved  and  fixing  of  responsibihty  in  each 
community  assured. 

With  the  vastly  increased  missionary  re- 
sources made  available  by  the  missionary 
"drives"  of  the  leading  denominations  there 
is  positive  danger  of  the  problem  of  interde- 
nominational adjustment  being  made  still 
more  serious.  If  the  Home  Mission  Boards, 
through  unwise  use  of  mission  funds  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  in  competitive  strug- 
gles, should  precipitate  retaliation  by  other 
denominations,  a  misuse  of  missionary  funds 
would  result  that  would  not  only  dry  up  the 
sources  of  missionary  support  but  bring 
Protestantism  into  lasting  disgrace. 

In  working  out  a  program  of  interdenom- 
inational adjustment  the  following  plan  has 
been   tried   with    success  on  at  least  three 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       131 

Methodist   Episcopal   Annual    Conference 
districts : 

1.  A  survey  of  the  district  and  the  prep- 
aration of  a  map  showing  the  location  of  all 
churches,  residences  of  all  pastors,  circuit 
systems,  and  whether  churches  are  located 
in  villages  or  the  open  country. 

2.  Separate  lists  are  then  made  of  cases 
of  apparent  competitive  relations  with  each 
denomination. 

3.  Conferences  are  then  called  with  the 
representatives  of  each  denomination  to  con- 
sider the  problems  of  competition  between 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the 
particular  denomination  with  which  the  con- 
ference is  called. 

4.  After  tentative  plans  have  been 
adopted  representatives  of  both  denomi- 
nations visit  the  local  field  together,  confer 
with  the  churches  concerned,  and  arrive  at 
some  agreement  as  to  adjustments  to  be 
made. 

5.  This  method  is  followed  with  each  de- 
nomination, separately,  with  which  Method- 
ism has  competitive  relations. 

This  plan  has  been  tried  with  success  in 
the  State  of  Vermont,    where    Methodists, 


132    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

Baptists,  and  Congregationalists  had  to  co- 
operate or  abandon  the  field;  in  the  Ports- 
mouth district,  Ohio  Conference,  where  the 
principal  problems  were  with  the  Presby- 
terians, United  Brethren,  and  Baptists;  in 
Montana,  where  a  conference  was  held  to 
consider  adjustments  affecting  an  entire 
State;  and  in  the  Wooster  District,  North- 
East  Ohio  Conference,  where  adjustment  of 
relationships  is  proceeding  satisfactorily. 

The  results  of  this  program  already  no- 
ticeable are: 

1.  The  increase  in  salary  of  rural  minis- 
ters made  possible  by  uniting  the  financial 
resources  of  all  religious  forces  in  the 
community. 

2.  Saving  of  missionary  money  by  elim- 
inating duplication  of  missionary  grants  by 
competing  denominations. 

3.  A  marked  increase  in  membership  and 
church  attendance. 

4.  A  more  vital  relationship  of  the  church 
to  community  welfare  through  unified  action 
of  all  religious  forces  under  the  trained  lead- 
ership of  one  pastor. 

5.  Resident  pastorates  to  more  communi- 
ties through  better  distribution  of  pastoral 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       133 

residences  of  the  denominations  concerned  in 
adjustments  made. 

6.  A  more  vital  appeal  to  life  service  in 
rural  work  can  now  be  made  to  young  people 
who  have  objected  to  service  in  rural  charges 
where  efforts  at  community  service  have  been 
handicapped  and  even  nullified  by  the  pres- 
ence of  competing  religious  organizations 
and  pastors. 

It  is  believed  that  the  results  obtained  far 
outweigh  the  possible  losses  that  may  come 
through  Methodists  intrusting  leadership  in 
service  to  Presbyterians,  Congregationalists, 
Baptists,  or  the  reverse.  The  good  work 
made  possible  by  fixing  responsibility  for 
leadership  to  a  given  denomination  in  one 
community  is  destined  by  the  force  of  ex- 
ample and  imitation  to  compel  similar  prog- 
ress in  communities  to  which  leadership  re- 
sponsibility has  been  assigned  to  other 
denominations. 

A  word  of  caution  to  ministers  in  charge 
of  local  fields  is  desirable  in  regard  to  set- 
tlement of  interdenominational  difficulties. 
The  interests  involved  are  so  much  larger 
than  the  local  church  that  the  initiative  must 
be  taken  by  the  district  superintendent,  al- 


134    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

ways  in  the  fullest  consultation  with  the  res- 
ident bishop,  or  the  proper  State,  synodical, 
or  other  representative  of  the  other  denom- 
inations concerned.  In  a  number  of  cases 
local  initiative  in  this  matter  has  resulted 
not  only  in  defeating  the  end  sought  but  has 
created  embarrassing  situations  between  the 
supervisory  representatives  of  the  denomi- 
nations. If  a  local  situation  needs  adjust- 
ment, the  matter  should  be  gone  over  fully 
with  those  responsible  for  church  adminis- 
tration, and  it  is  believed  that  in  most  cases 
such  adjustment  can  be  made  satisfactorily. 
The  experience  of  those  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  who  have  tried  to  bring 
about  adjustments  by  the  method  suggested 
has  been  that  in  most  cases  other  groups  are 
ready  to  come  to  an  agreement. 

If  other  groups  refuse  to  make  adjust- 
ments, then  the  denomination  making  the 
advances  has  no  other  alternative  than  that 
of  caring  for  its  own  obligations  as  ade- 
quately as  possible  and  with  every  resource 
that  can  be  made  available.  But  no  blame 
can  attach  to  this  policy  after  effort  has  been 
made  to  cooperate  with  other  groups  and 
these  eflforts  have  failed. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        135 

After  communities  have  been  allocated  for 
leadership  to  one  or  another  of  the  denomi- 
nations, then  the  problem  of  a  united  pro- 
gram by  all  denominations  remains  to  be 
solved.  Unless  this  end  is  attained,  then 
rural  churches  must  continue  to  work  largely 
alone,  each  in  its  own  community  without 
relation  to  the  program  of  neighboring 
churches  or  communities.  Unless  there  is 
coordination  between  the  churches,  then  we 
shall  continue  to  witness  the  spectacle  of  the 
three  interdenominational  branches  of  the 
church,  the  Sunday  School  Association,  and 
the  Christian  Associations,  each  moving  in 
its  own  self -chosen  direction,  each  raising  an 
independent  budget,  and  each  establishing 
county  organizations  without  reference  to 
the  interests  of  the  other;  and  none  of  the 
three  doing  anything  to  encourage  the  organ- 
ization of  county  groups  of  the  churches  as 
such.  The  time  has  arrived  when  the  church 
as  such  should  take  the  lead  in  bringing 
about  interdenominational  cooperation  for 
community  service  under  its  own  auspices 
and  in  the  most  inclusive  way. 

For  many  reasons  the  county  offers  the 
best  basis  for  this  type  of  organization.    It  is 


136    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

the  most  permanent  political  unit,  next  to 
the  State  or  the  incorporated  town  or  city. 
Social  progress  finds  the  closest  opportunity 
for  cooperation  with  economic  and  political 
agencies  in  the  county.  Th^.^following  pro- 
posal for  a  County  Christian  Association, 
supported  out  of  the  budgets  of  local  coop- 
erating churches,  has  been  worked  out : 

Suggested  Program  for  County  Rural  Chris- 
tian Association  or  Federation  of  Churches^ 

la.  Proposal  for  County  Christian  Association  or 
Church  Federation, 
lb.  Board  of  Directors. 

Ic.  County  Council  chosen  by  each  cooper- 
ating denomination  on  basis  of  mem- 
bership. 
2c.  Election   or    appointment   of  denomina- 
tional   representatives    to    be   left    to 
each  denomination. 
3c.  Selection  of  county  secretary. 
2b.  Duties  of  county  secretary. 

Ic.  Survey — ^Follow    up    what    interchurch 
county  office  has  done. 
Id.  Location  of  all  churches. 
2d.  Residence  of  pastors. 
3d.  Community  boundaries. 


^  Prepared  in  Collaboration  with  C.  J.  Hewett,  Garrett 
Biblical  Institute.  Evanston,  111. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        137 

£c.  Organize  county  religious  movemeiots  as: 
Id.  Evangelistic  drive. 
2d.  Membership  rally. 
3d.  Go-to-church  campaigns. 
4d.  Religious  worship  in  the  home. 
5d.  Common  programs  with  reference  to 

moral  and  spiritual  problems. 
6d.  Other  religious  movements. 
3c.  Interchurch  adjustments. 

Id.  Act    as    secretary    of    Committee    on. 
Adjustments — provide     office     for 
interchurch  activities. 
2d.  Depository   for  interchurch   religious 

information. 
3d.  Follow-up  plans  made  as  result  of  in- 
terchurch survey,  including: 
le.  Encouragement  of  building  parson- 
age and  getting  resident  pastor 
in  every  community. 
2e.  Getting  a  community  church  build- 
ing in  every  community  adequate 
to  its  needs. 
3e.  Getting  a   community  building  un- 
der    joint      religious      auspices 
where    need    exists    for    several 
houses  of  worship. 
4e.  Clearing  house  for  membership  con- 
servation. 
5e.  Determination  of  parish  boundaries. 
6e.  Establishment  of  new  work  in  com- 
munities where  there  is  none. 


138    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

4c.  Social  and  recreational. 

Id.  County  field  days. 

^d.  Cooperation  in  organizing  boys'  and 
girls'  clubs  in  Sunday  school  or 
otherwise. 

4d.  Direct  social  and  recreational  activi- 
ties. 
'  fid.  Assisting    in    selection    and    training 

leaders  for  church  and  community 
service. 
5c.  Religious  education. 

Id.  Recruiting  membership  campaigns 

2d.  Perform  all  functions  now  expected  of 
volunteer  county  Sunday  school 
secretary. 

dd.  Assist  in  analysis  of  Sunday  school 
methods  and  organization  in  local 
churches  in  organizing  for  larger 
service. 

4d.  Week-day  religious  instruction  plans. 
6c.  Social   service   activities   to   be   encour- 
aged: 

Id.  County  free  library. 

2d.  County  hospital  and  nursing  program. 

3d.  Adequate  provision  for  dependents, 
defectives,  delinquents. 

4d.  Securing  desired  State  public  service. 

6d.  Health  and  sanitation  campaign. 

6d.  County  Farm  bureaus. 
7c.  Cooperation    with    other    agencies.      In 
general,    give    moral    support    to 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       139 

agencies  doing  effective  work  in  the 
fields  mentioned  in  (6c). 
8c.  Act  as  bureau  of  advice  with  reference 
to  appeals  for  charitable  purposes. 
9c.  Religious  publicity. 
3b.  Budget. 

Ic.  Estimated  Salary  of  Secretary      $3,000 

Travel , 400 

Office  rent ,.  .  300 

Equipment 200 

Stenographer ,.  .  .  .i.  .  750 

Publicity i. ., - 400 


$5,050 
2c.  How  to  raise 

Id.  Estimate  amount  that  should  come 
from  each  cooperating  church. 
Ask  each  church  to  assume  its 
share  on  a  three-year  guarantee. 

2d.  Make  list  of  special  givers  who  may 
become  a  private  source. 

3d.  Communicate  with  respective  mission- 
ary boards  for  aid  in  carrying 
balance  of  budget  until  such  time 
as  it  can  be  brought  to  self-sup- 
port. 

This  form  of  organization  has  many  ad- 
vantages, among  which  are: 

1.  It  coordinates  all  the  religious  forces 


140    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

of  Protestantism,  for  a  common  community 
service. 

2.  It  insures  ultimate  permanent  support 
by  being  financed  out  of  the  budgets  of  the 
cooperating  churches  instead  of  by  a  limited 
number  of  private  givers  of  large  funds. 

3.  The  county  organization  develops  its 
work  through  the  churches,  strengthening 
the  program  of  the  minister  instead  of  devel- 
oping independent  organizations  locally 
with  volunteer  leadership  related  to  an 
"arm"  of  the  church  instead  of  directly  to 
the  church. 

4.  By  organizing  to  do  their  own  work 
in  this  way  the  churches  obviate  the  necessity 
of  private  Christian  agencies  organizing  with 
outside  support  to  carry  on  interdenomina- 
tional work. 

If  the  churches  of  America  do  not  rapidly 
work  out  plans  of  interdenominational  coop- 
eration in  the  development  of  their  work, 
other  agencies  will  enter  the  field  and  will 
receive  popular  financial  support  for  doing 
those  things  in  rural  progress  that  are  the 
legitimate  task  of  the  church  and  for  which 
the  church  should  receive  support.  Church 
people  will  supply  the  large  part  of  the 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       141 

funds  for  carrying  on  these  activities  through 
nonreligious  agencies;  and  because  of  the 
narrowness  of  program  the  church  will  have 
chosen  for  itself  many  of  the  brightest  and 
best  minds,  and  consecrated  hearts  now  found 
in  our  student  groups  in  educational  institu- 
tions will  find  their  life's  activities  outside 
the  church  instead  of  within  its  ranks  where 
they  would  prefer  to  be.  This  will  be  the 
misfortune  of  the  church  and  she  cannot 
clear  herself  of  the  wrong  of  depriving  her 
young  people  of  the  opportunity  of  render- 
ing a  service  to  humanity  within  her  own 
ranks  and  of  forcing  them  to  render  that 
service  through  independent  social  agencies. 


142    CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   CHURCH   AND   OTHER 
RURAL  AGENCIES 

Since  the  arousal  of  interest  in  rural  wel- 
fare by  the  studies  made  by  the  Country 
Life  Commission  in  1908,  probably  no 
movement  has  made  more  rapid  progress 
than  that  concerned  with  rural  hfe.  Studies 
of  rural  church  conditions  made  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Home  Missions  and  other 
agencies,  of  rural  health  by  the  National 
Public  Health  Service  and  by  a  number  of 
the  large  philanthropic  foundations,  of  edu- 
cational conditions  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  and  of  other  problems 
by  various  agencies  concerned,  have  revealed 
the  more  important  conditions  and  have 
made  possible  the  organization  of  programs 
for  their  amelioration.  The  conditions  still 
further  revealed  by  the  problems  incident  to 
preparation  for  the  World  War  and  the  fa- 
cilities made  possible  by  that  preparation  for 
mobilization  of  the  forces  for  improvement 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       143 

still  further  advanced  the  rural-life  move- 
ment until  now  no  other  interest  is  occupy- 
ing more  public  attention  than  this. 

The  list  of  agencies  with  programs  of  rural 
service  on  a  national  scale  that  have  found 
representation  in  the  National  Council  of 
Rural  Social  Service  affiliated  with  the 
American  Country  Life  Association  will  in- 
dicate the  large  number  of  groups  now  con- 
tributing to  the  advance  of  rural  welfare. 
This  list  is  as  follows:  National  Grange, 
American  Farm  Bureau  Federation,  Na- 
tional Board  of  Farm  Organizations,  Farm- 
ers' Educational  and  Cooperative  Union, 
American  Home  Economics  Society,  Amer- 
ican Red  Cross,  Boy  Scouts  of  America,  Girl 
Scouts  of  America,  Federal  Council  of 
Churches,  National  Catholic  Welfare  Coun- 
cil, Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, American  Baptist  Home  Missionary 
Society,  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  States  Relations 
Service ;  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 


144    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

culture,  Office  of  Farm  Management; 
United  States  Public  Health  Service, 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  United 
States  Department  of  Labor,  Children's 
Bureau;  National  Organization  for  Public 
Health  Nursing,  National  Child  Labor 
Committee,  Child  Health  Organization  of 
America,  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  Na- 
tional Tuberculosis  Association,  National 
Educational  Association,  Rural  Depart- 
ment; American  Library  Association,  Na- 
tional University  Extension  Association, 
National  Child  Health  Council,  Playground 
and  Recreation  Association  of  America, 
Community  Service,  Inc. 

The  above  is  a  list  of  thirty-one  different 
agencies  that  have  a  national  definitely  or- 
ganized rural-service  program.  This  list 
doubtless  is  incomplete  and  will  be  increased 
in  the  course  of  time. 

The  problem  before  us  is  to  determine  just 
what  place  the  church  should  have  in  this 
formidable  galaxy  of  agencies,  and  to  con- 
sider what  advantages  and  difficulties  pre- 
sent themselves  to  the  churches  of  America 
in  functioning  unitedly  and  successfully  in 
doing  their  part  in  the  entire  movement. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        145 

It  must  be  recognized  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  chm-ch  to  assmne  leadership  in  all  the 
interests  represented  now  by  various  special- 
ized agencies.  It  has  been  contended  that 
the  task  of  the  church  has  been  completed 
with  reference  to  a  number  of  these  interests 
when  it  has  encouraged  their  organization  in 
a  local  way  and  has  continued  to  give  them 
its  moral  support  so  long  as  they  render  ef- 
fectively the  service  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended. Rural  interests  are  so  complex  that 
specialized  groups  are  necessary  to  insure 
adequate  attention  to  all  the  interests 
concerned. 

'  It  must  also  be  recognized  that  until  the 
two  great  branches  of  the  Christian  Church 
— Catholicism  and  Protestantism — learn  to 
cooperate  in  their  service  to  the  community, 
the  religious  forces  of  America  cannot  pre- 
sent a  united  front  in  rendering  the  service 
that  belongs  peculiarly  to  them.  It  is  as- 
sumed that  the  effort  will  be  made  by  those 
responsible  for  community  service  in  both 
branches  of  the  church  to  work  out  this  prob- 
lem so  that  the  church  can  do  its  part  in  the 
general  movement. 

The  physical  basis  for  organization  of  all 


146    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

forces  for  service  on  a  comprehensive  plan  is 
recognized  to  be  the  pohtical  units,  county. 
State,  and  nation.  The  township  is  giving 
way  gradually  to  the  community  as  the  more 
local  unit  of  organization.  In  cases  where 
community  boundary  lines  do  not  coincide 
with  county  lines  local  adjustments  will  be 
made  whereby  the  integrity  of  communities 
may  be  maintained  within  the  organization 
of  one  or  the  other  of  the  counties  concerned. 
The  present  movement  is  toward  the  ap- 
pointment of  county  work  secretaries  on  a 
salaried  basis  to  administer  the  work  of  the 
respective  interests  concerned.  Thus  we 
have  now  developed  wherever  the  spirit  of 
the  people  has  made  it  possible  salaried 
County  Y.  M.  C.  A.  officers,  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
officers.  International  Sunday  School  offi- 
cers. Red  Cross  Chapters,  Boy  Scouts, 
Community  Service,  Inc.,  and  so  forth. 
There  is  no  regularity  or  uniformity  in  the 
selection  of  the  counties  by  the  different 
agencies  with  reference  to  each  other,  but  it 
appears  that  when  one  of  the  groups  suc- 
ceeds in  getting  a  county  office  established, 
it  is  increasingly  difficult  for  other  agencies 
concerned  in  rural  social  service  to  gain  a 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        147 

foothold  on  a  salaried  basis.  The  agency 
that  succeeds  in  gaining  a  foothold  origin- 
ally tends  to  incorporate  into  its  activities 
the  full  program  of  social  service.  Theoret- 
ically all  admit  their  readiness  to  turn  over 
to  other  agencies  the  functions  belonging  to 
other  groups  as  soon  as  they  are  ready  to 
assume  their  proper  duties,  but  practically 
the  organization  of  an  interest  group  county 
office  delays  indefinitely  the  organization  of 
rural  service  on  a  proper  basis. 

The  normal  course  of  development  is  for 
the  agency  that  is  prepared  to  organize  and 
finance  a  comprehensive  rural  program  for 
a  county  should  render  this  service;  but  it 
should  at  the  same  time  use  its  influence  to 
bring  about  at  the  earhest  possible  moment 
a  county  council  of  social  agencies  that  will 
give  imified  control  of  the  rural  service  pro- 
gram to  all  agencies  that  should  have  a  voice 
in  rural  progress.  If  this  policy  is  adhered 
to,  there  will  be  the  heartiest  support  of  the 
work  of  any  agency  that  wishes  to  begin  its 
work  on  a  county  basis  in  any  section  of  the 
country. 

The  first  impression  that  may  come  to  one 
not  famiUar  with  the  vastness  of  the  organ- 


148    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

ized  movement  for  rural  welfare  may  be  that 
a  large  number  of  agencies  have  undertaken 
rural  service  for  their  own  sakes  rather  than 
for  the  sake  of  the  community.  This  is  not 
the  case.  It  is  recognized  that  rural  organ- 
ization for  definite  objectives  should  take  the 
place  of  previous  uncoordinated,  haphazard 
opportunism  in  rural  progress,  and  the  pres- 
ent sporadic  and  unrelated  movements  to- 
ward organization  are  but  the  result  of  a 
very  rapid  development  which  has  not  yet 
found  time  to  make  the  desired  adjustment 
desired  by  all  concerned.  The  National 
Council  of  Rural  Social  Agencies,  the  State 
Councils  coming  into  existence,  the  County 
Councils  and  the  community  councils  that 
have  appeared  here  and  there  are  but  the 
beginnings  of  a  well-ordered,  economical  and 
necessary  coordination  of  rural  social  forces. 
How  is  the  church  related  to  this  move- 
ment? Repeated  investigations  have  shown 
that  the  churches  of  America  have  within 
their  membership  by  far  the  larger  propor- 
tion of  those  whose  public  spirit  registers 
itself  in  voluntary  financial  support  of  pub- 
lic enterprises.  The  "friendly  citizen"  is 
largely  a  myth.    Those  who  build  churches 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        149 

at  large  personal  sacrifice,  and  pay  the  bills 
in  maintaining  religious  services  are  those 
whose  names  appear  at  the  top  of  most  sub- 
scriptions to  benevolent  enterprises.  It  was 
the  Christian  ministry  and  the  church  mem- 
bership that  made  possible  the  Red  Cross 
drives  during  the  war,  and  the  other  finan- 
cial campaigns  for  relief  and  other  calls  inci- 
dent to  the  war.  Thus  history  has  continued 
to  show  the  same  condition  so  far  as  financial 
resources  for  public  welfare  support  are  con- 
cerned. 

Since  this  is  the  case,  it  appears  that  the 
most  natural  method  of  initiating  social  serv- 
ice work  on  a  voluntary  basis  is  to  expect  the 
churches  to  take  the  lead.  As  has  been 
pointed  out,  the  church  and  the  school  are 
the  two  local  institutions  that  have  salaried 
officials  to  care  for  their  public  service. 
Other  agencies,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  public  health  nursing  service,  will  prob- 
ably not  in  the  near  future  be  able  to  secure 
financial  support  for  full-time  salaried  local 
officials.  The  nearest  they  can  approach  to 
such  salaried  service  is  the  county  official 
who  must  depend  for  local  service  upon 
trained  volunteer  help.    This  condition  puts 


150    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

upon  the  church  an  additional  responsibility 
because  through  the  organization  of  a 
county  religious  organization  outlined  in  the 
preceding  chapter  it  can  not  only  mobilize 
local  support  for  such  work  on  a  permanent 
basis  most  effectively,  but  it  can  also  provide 
the  salaried  local  leadership  for  carrying  out 
a  well-organized  community  service  pro- 
gram. Moreover,  in  harmony  with  princi- 
ples presented  in  an  earher  chapter,  the 
church  as  a  conservative  institution  is  one  of 
the  permanent  organizations  that  in  the  last 
analysis  must  be  expected  to  take  over  and 
insure  permanence  to  well-tried  advances  in 
community  organization  and  service.  If  this 
thesis  is  admitted,  then  it  logically  follows 
that  all  who  are  interested  in  rural  progress 
should  encourage  the  organization  of  the  reli- 
gious forces  on  a  comprehensive  basis  to  in- 
sure the  perpetuation  of  the  work  now  being 
inaugurated  by  a  large  number  of  private 
agencies. 

When  it  is  found  that  the  interests  of 
other  organizations  conflict  with  the  pro- 
gram of  the  church,  the  interests  of  the 
American  public  will  give  the  preference  in 
support  to  the  church,  or  to  the  tax-sup- 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       151 

ported  institution.  In  the  long  run  much  of 
the  work  now  being  done  by  private  organ- 
izations of  various  sorts  will  be  inherited 
either  by  the  church  or  by  the  state;  and  it 
is  not  only  the  opportunity  but  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  church  to  prepare  itself  as  rap- 
idly as  possible  for  conserving  these  newer 
activities  by  financing  county  and  State  and 
national  organizations  for  coordination  of 
religious  forces  for  community  service.  If 
county  offices  for  coordination  of  religious 
forces  were  now  in  existence,  the  churches 
could  provide  facilities  through  which  much 
of  the  work  now  being  developed  by  other 
agencies  could  be  carried  on.  And  thus  the 
church  could  render  a  much-needed  service 
to  the  entire  rural-life  movement. 


152    CHURCH  COOPERATION 


CHAPTER  X 

MISSIONARY     PROGRAMS     AND 

RURAL    COMMUNITY 

SERVICE 

Long  years  of  experience  in  foreign  mis- 
sionary service  has  vitally  affected  the  meth- 
ods of  carrying  the  gospel  of  Christian  liv- 
ing to  those  who  have  not  yet  come  under 
the  influence  of  the  Christ.  Here  the  dem- 
onstration method  of  what  Christianity 
means  in  terms  of  increased  human  welfare 
has  done  far  more  to  spread  the  gospel  than 
simply  preaching  to  people.  The  freeing  of 
the  millions  now  living  under  the  control  of 
other  forms  of  religious  behef  by  introduc- 
tion of  schools,  together  with  the  message  of 
health  and  better  moral  ideals  through  the 
practice  of  Christian  living,  has  done  more 
to  spread  Christianity  than  all  the  efforts  of 
attempting  to  build  a  Christian  spirit  into  a 
civilization  not  suited  to  it  nor  prepared 
for  it. 

The    missionary    agencies    in   the    home 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        153 

fields  have  learned  from  the  experience  in 
the  foreign  fields,  and  now  the  programs  of 
home  missionary  boards  are  characterized  by 
their  large  emphasis  upon  the  social  gospel. 
The  revival  of  interest  in  religious  life  in 
this  country  coincident  with  the  recognition 
of  its  vital  significance  in  sound  social  or- 
ganization has  come  so  rapidly  and  popular 
support  has  been  so  liberal  that  grave  dan- 
ger exists  lest  the  funds  made  available 
should  be  used  unintentionally  in  ways  that 
tend  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  the  gift.  The 
church,  in  its  benevolent  program,  should 
take  advantage  of  the  lessons  learned  by 
private  philanthropic  agencies  in  dealing 
with  problems  of  reclamation  of  the  unfor- 
tunate or  of  stimulating  to  a  larger  life. 

Many  of  the  efforts  at  social  progress  fail 
because  of  lack  of  clear  statement  of  ob- 
jectives. So  far  as  the  rural  work  is  con- 
cerned, the  following  are  presented  as  nec- 
essary objectives,  if  the  rural  church  is  to 
succeed  in  measuring  up  to  its  task.  It  is 
believed  that  funds  of  the  church  can  be  used 
safely  and  wisely  in  their  attainment. 

1.  Strengthen  the  weak  places  in  rural 
church  work  in  harmony  with  principles  of 


154    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

interdenominational  ethics   and  well-estab- 
lished principles  of  benevolent  assistance. 

2.  Increase  effectiveness  of  rural  ministry 
by  training  ministry  now  in  service  in  mod- 
ern methods  of  church  work  and  by  recruit- 
ing and  training  a  new  ministry  in  sympa- 
thy with  rural  life  and  devoted  to  its 
improvement. 

3.  Organize  rural  church  work  so  that 
every  rural  family  will  have  definitely  as- 
signed pastoral  care. 

4.  Adjust  interdenominational  relation- 
ships so  that  the  ideal  of  but  one  resident  pas- 
tor and  one  church  to  each  community  may 
be  realized. 

5.  Provide  means  of  interdenominational 
cooperation  so  that  rural  religious  forces 
may  work  together  in  dealing  with  common 
problems  of  rural  social  and  religious 
progress. 

6.  Organize  rural  work  so  that  it  may 
have  due  consideration  in  the  general  poli- 
cies of  religious  organizations. 

7.  All  the  above  are  preliminary  to  the 
one  great  object,  from  the  social  point  of 
view,  namely,  that  of  making  it  possible  for 
the  rural  church  and  the  rural  minister  to 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       155 

function  most  effectively  in  bringing  more 
abundant  life  in  the  best  sense  to  rural 
people. 

After  religious  forces  are  organized  so 
that  they  can  present  a  united  front  in  the 
attack  on  the  great  social  problems  of  rural 
life,  then  the  individual  churches  and  all 
churches  together  can  undertake  to  meet  the 
challenge  outlined  in  earlier  chapters  of  this 
text  and  also  well  presented  in  much  of  the 
recent  literature  on  the  subject.  But  effec- 
tive organization  must  precede  most  effec- 
tive and  permanent  service. 

Certain  principles  have  been  the  guiding 
influence  in  the  program  on  which  the  rural 
department  of  at  least  one  of  the  leading  de- 
nominations has  been  working.  For  those 
who  come  to  positions  of  administrative  re- 
sponsibility from  time  to  time  without  hav- 
ing been  under  the  necessity  of  acquainting 
themselves  with  the  principles  that  should 
guide  in  the  safe  expenditure  of  funds  for 
maintenance  of  pastors,  these  are  given 
here: 

1.  Principles  of  interdenominational  eth- 
ics should  be  observed  in  making  grants  of 
missionary  funds  to  local  pastors.    It  is  to 


156    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

be  feared  that  too  often  funds  have  been 
used  to  sustain  a  local  work  in  the  presence 
of  another  denomination  when  efforts  at  in- 
terdenominational adjustment  would  have 
relieved  the  situation  by  removing  the  neces- 
sity, namely,  that  of  division  of  local  re- 
sources by  competing  religious  forces. 

2.  Owing  to  the  unusual  problems  pre- 
sented on  charges  asking  for  missionary  aid 
only  the  ablest  ministers  should  be  assigned 
to  such  points.  They  should  be  supported 
according  to  their  needs  through  missionary 
aid,  and  their  acceptance  of  difficult  work 
should  enhance  rather  than  lessen  their 
standing  in  the  church. 

3.  Rigid  avoidance  of  use  of  missionary 
funds  for  purposes  of  charity,  or  for  making 
appointments  easier.  The  charge,  not  the 
minister,  is  the  objective. 

4.  Centralization  of  effort  on  a  few  places 
instead  of  dissipation  of  funds  in  providing 
inefficient  service  in  many  places. 

5.  Gradual  but  certain  withdrawal  of  sup- 
port from  national  or  State  boards  in  order 
to  avoid  pauperizing  communities  by  reliev- 
ing them  of  their  local  financial  responsi- 
bilities. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       157 

As  one  of  the  most  serious  problems  con- 
nected with  rural  missionary  service  is  that 
of  interdenominational  complications,  an  ef- 
fort has  been  made  to  work  out  certain  prin- 
ciples that  may  be  observed  by  all  religious 
organizations  carrying  out  a  rural  program. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Home  Mis- 
sions Council  in  1914  a  statement  of  prin- 
ciples was  adopted.  In  1919  the  rural  fields 
conmiittee  of  the  Home  Missions  Council 
undertook  the  revision  of  these  principles  in 
the  light  of  later  experience  and  adopted  the 
revision  as  a  committee  report.  Because 
this  document  represents  the  best  judgment 
of  those  in  the  various  denominations  con- 
cerned with  rural  work  it  is  presented  here- 
with as  a  desirable  basis  on  which  grants  of 
funds  may  be  safely  made.  The  statement 
is  presented  in  full : 

Persuaded  of  the  urgent  need  of  some  compre- 
hensive and  united  plan  for  the  evangelization  of 
our  country  and  for  closer  cooperation  to  make 
such  plans  effective,  the  Home  Missions  Coun- 
cil proposes  for  the  consideration  of  its  constit- 
uent societies  the  following  principles  of  comity. 
It  is  to  be  distinctly  understood,  however,  that  no 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  any  kind  is  implied  ex- 


158    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

cept  as  ecclesiastical  bodies  shall  adopt  these  pol- 
icies as  their  own.  They  have  only  the  moral 
force  of  the  consent  of  the  parties  desiring  to  see 
them  become  effective. 

First.  As  to  the  occupancy  of  new  fields.  The 
frequently  suggested  plan  for  the  entering  of  new 
territory  is  to  divide  it  among  the  various  de- 
nominations, holding  each  body  responsible  for 
the  proper  working  of  its  field. 

a.  In     the    judgment     of     this     Council     this 

course  of  procedure  would  seem  to  be  im- 
practicable. But  a  sensitive  regard  not 
only  for  the  rights  but  for  the  sentiments 
of  sister  bodies  of  Christian  people  is  de- 
manded by  every  consideration  of  right- 
eousness as  well  as  fraternity. 

b.  In  districts  or  in  places  already  occupied  by 

any  denomination  new  work  should  be  un- 
dertaken by  any  other  body  only  after 
fraternal  conference  between  the  official 
representatives  of  the  missionary  organ- 
izations embracing  those  localities. 

c.  Occupancy  of  the  field  shall  be  determined 

by  at  least  the  following  characteristics: 

1.  The  establishment  of  a  regularly  organ- 

ized church. 
The  establishing  of  a  Sunday  school  shall 
not   be   deemed    sufficient    to    meet   the 
terms  of  this  definition. 

2.  The  appointment  of  a  pastor  who  shall 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       159 

be  expected  to  hold  services  in  the  commu- 
nity at  least  once  every  two  weeks. 
3.  The    provision    of    church    building    and 
equipment  within  a  reasonable  time  ade- 
quate to  the  needs  of  the  community  at 
its  present  stage  of  development. 
The  occupation  of  a  field  by  any  denomination 
after  conference  and  agreement  shall  give  to  that 
denomination  the  right  to  the  field  and  the  re- 
sponsibility  for  its   Christian  culture  until   such 
changes  in  population  shall  make  it  desirable  that 
it  be  shared  with  one  or  more  other  denominations. 
If  the  above  conference  shall  fail  to  reach  agree- 
ment, it  shall  be  the  privilege  of  the  aggrieved 
party  to  make  appeal  to  its  respective  board  or 
society,  which  board  or  society  shall  confer  with 
the*  sister  board  or  society  concerned,  and  these 
boards  may  then  request  the  superintendents  of 
the  denominations  concerned  for  the  field  in  ques- 
tion to  make  personal  investigation   and  to   re- 
port their  findings  to  their  respective  boards.    If 
they  agree,  the  boards  shall  take  action  in  ac- 
cordance therewith.     If  they  disagree,  the  matter 
shall  be  referred  to  the  boards  for  such  action  as 
their  wisdom  may  determine,  which  action  shall  be 
communicated    to    the    churches    concerned    with 
whatever  ecclesiastical  or  moral  force  their  deci- 
sion may  command. 

Second.  In  communities  already  occupied  by 
two  or  more  denominations,  in  case  any  church 
or  mission  station  shaU  consider  itself  aggrieved 


160    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

in  its  relations  to  sister  churches,  the  course  of 
procedure  outlined  in  Section  I  shall  likewise  be 
followed. 

There  shall  be  friendly  conference  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  and  recourse 
be  had,  when  necessary,  to  the  local  or  national 
missionary  authorities,  whose  findings*  properly 
communicated  shall  have  behind  them  the  moral 
force  of  this  Council. 

Where  any  denomination  occupies  a  district  by 
groupings  of  mission  stations  under  one  mission- 
ary the  same  principles  shall  apply  and  the  same 
method  of  adjusting  differences  shall  be  followed. 

Third.  "Overchurched  Communities."  Not  in- 
frequently the  promise  of  new  towns  fails  of  ful- 
fillment, with  the  result  that  there  are  more  church 
organizations  than  in  any  economic  view  should 
be  maintained — at  least  out  of  missionary  funds. 
In  many  sections  of  the  country  also,  because  of 
the  marked  shift  of  population  from  agricultural 
communities  to  urban  centers,  overchurching  has 
weakened  all  denominations  to  the  point  where 
missionary  effort  is  necessary  to  restore  again 
a  wholesome  religious  life.  Regardless  of  the' 
cause  of  overchurching,  whether  from  the  undue 
optimism  of  the  newer  sections  of  the  country  or 
changed  conditions  in  the  older,  or  other  condi- 
tions, the  problem  of  overchurching  must  be  dealt 
with  in  the  true  spirit  of  comity  and  cooperation 
for  the  sake  of  the  common  good. 

a.  The  principle  should  be  established  that  one 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        161 

Protestant  church  is  adequate  for  each 
community  of  less  than  1,500  inhabitants; 
and  that  efforts  should  be  made  to  bring 
about  interdenominational  readjustment  to 
this  end  in  all  sections  of  the  country 
where  economic  and  social  conditions  have 
become  sufficiently  established  to  make  im- 
probable any  marked  or  rapid  increase  in 
population  within  a  short  time. 

In  communities  of  over  1,500  inhabitants 
there  should  not  be  more  than  one  Prot- 
estant church  to  every  1,000  population. 

In  communities  of  over  1,500  inhabitants 
and  of  less  than  5,000,  plans  should  be 
worked  out  whereby  the  different  denom- 
inations concerned  shall  cooperate  in  pro- 
viding adequate  building  and  equipment 
for  community  service.  Such  building 
should  be  strategically  located  and  should 
be  controlled  by  a  governing  board  made 
up  of  representatives,  the  number  of  whom 
from  each  denomination  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  the  constituency  of  that  denom- 
ination in  its  proportion  to  the  total  Prot- 
estant or  cooperating  population.  The 
rules  for  the  control  of  the  activities  of 
such  cooperative  community  service  should 
respect  the  standards  of  the  respective  de- 
nominations. The  support  of  such  com- 
munity service  should  be  apportioned  to 
the  respective  denominations  concerned  to 


162    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

be  raised  in  their  respective  budgets  in 
proportion  to  their  respective  representa- 
tion on  the  governing  board. 

d.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  denomination  to 

which  responsibility  shall  have  been  allo- 
cated to  provide  the  best-trained  leader- 
ship and  the  best  service  of  which  it  is 
capable  out  of  consideration  to  the  other 
denominations  that  have  intrusted  the  spir- 
itual welfare  of  their  membership  to  this 
group. 

e.  In  determining  what  denomination  has  prime 

responsibility  in  a  given  community  of  un- 
der 1,500  inhabitants  the  following  shall 
be  considered. 
1.  Present  resident  membership  and  constit- 
uency.    The    organization    having    the 
largest  bona  fide  membership  and  con- 
stituency should  be  considered  as  hav- 
ing prime  responsibility,  from  this  point 
of  view. 
ft.  The  residence  of  the  pastor.     In  general, 
the  pastor's  residence  should  be  given 
larger  weight   than   membership   unless 
the  denomination  having  prime  respon- 
sibility according  to  (1)   stands  ready 
to  provide  a  pastor's  residence  in  the 
community  where  this  denomination  has 
prime  responsibility  from  the  point  of 
view  of  membership. 
3.  The  location  of  the  church  building.   The 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       163 

denomination  that  has  a  building  lo- 
cated in  a  village  center  should  be  given 
precedence  over  the  denomination  that 
has  its  headquarters  in  the  open  country 
near  a  village.  The  building  of  the  vil- 
lage church  should  be  suitably  located 
for  adequate  community  service ;  that  is, 
near  the  center  of  the  village. 

4.  As  between  the  village  and  the  open  coun- 

try church,  the  village  church  should  be 
given  prime  consideration  in  putting  on 
an  aggressive  community  program. 

5.  No  missionary  or  "sustentation"  support 

should  be  given  by  any  cooperating  de- 
nomination to  a  pastor  in  an  over- 
churched  community  nor  to  a  "circuit" 
involving  interdenominational  competi- 
tion until  after  an  adjustment  is  made 
either  by  reorganization  of  the  circuit  or 
an  agreement  has  been  reached  by  the 
missionary  and  administrative  bodies  of 
the  respective  denominations  concerned 
as  to  an  allocation  of  such  missionary 
responsibility. 

6.  Church  extension  aid  should  not  be  given 

toward  the  rebuilding  of  churches  in 
these  communities  until  after  allocation 
of  responsibility  has  been  effected. 

7.  If  after  due  effort  to  secure  satisfactory 

adjustment  of  relationships  according 
to  the  plans  suggested  in  First  above, 


164    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

and  by  such  further  arbitration  or 
other  means  as  may  be  adopted  by  the 
Home  Missions  Council  or  its  constitu- 
ent bodies,  then  the  denomination  seek- 
ing such  adjustment  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  develop  its  own  work  as  it  may  see 
fit,  standing  ready,  however,  to  make 
agreement  with  competing  bodies  when- 
ever they  wish  to  renew  negotiations. 

8.  In  the  interests  of  the  Kingdom,  after  mis- 

sionary responsibility  has  been  allo- 
cated, efforts  at  unifying  local  religious 
organizations  may  take  the  form  of  fed- 
eration, assimilation,  affiliation,  or  such 
other  mode  as  may  be  determined  on 
by  the  local  churches  concerned. 

9.  Plans  should  also  be  worked  out  whereby 

the  religious  forms  of  the  diff^erent 
groups  may  be  respected;  that  is,  that 
membership  in  the  remaining  religious 
organization  may  be  obtained  by  ful- 
filling the  obligations  of  the  cooperating 
body  with  which  the  persons  belonging 
to  the  withdrawing  organization  would 
naturally  affiliate. 
10.  It  is  understood  that  nothing  in  this  pro- 
posed set  of  principles  implies  that 
withdrawal  from  given  fields  shall  be 
forced.  It  is  only  intended  to  provide 
a  plan  whereby  all  forces  both  local  and 
general   shall   be   united   as   rapidly   as 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE        165 

possible  in  the  attainment  of  the  desired 
end,  namely,  that  of  unifying  Christian 
service  in  given  communities. 
11.  In  determining  the  limits  of  communities 
to  which  this  plan  shall  apply  the  Fed- 
eral Census  Bureau  designation  of  com- 
munities  of  2,500   and  under  as   rural 
shall   be    adopted    except    as    noted    in 
paragraph  5c. 
Fourth.  Inasmuch  as  many  of  the  constituent 
bodies  of  this  Council  are  already  by  official  ac- 
tion committed  to  the  principles  of  comity  which 
we  advocate,  it  would  seem  reasonable  to  hope 
that  at  least  gradually  these  principles  would  find 
realization  along  some  such  lines  as  here  proposed. 
It  is  manifest,  of  course,  that  no  plan  of  pro- 
cedure can  be  expected  to  cover  all  cases  or  to  be 
of  universal  applicability.    We  are  glad  to  record 
that  in  some  States  there  are  Interchurch  Federa- 
tions to  which  local  comity  matters  would  natu- 
rally be  referred.     For  other  cases  this  Council 
proposes  the  erection  of  an  Interdenominational 
Commission,  to  which  any  matter  of  comity  not 
otherwise  provided  for  may  be  referred  by  mutual 
agreement  of  the  parties  at  interest.     One  repre- 
sentative of  each  of  the  bodies  having  member- 
ship in  the  Home  Missions  Council  shall  consti- 
tute this  commission.    When  any  case  calling  for 
adjudication  shall  rise,  which  case  shall  previously 
have  had  the  consideration  of  any  one  or  more 
of  the  constituent  bodies  of  the  Home  Missions 


166    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

Council,  it  shall  be  referred  to  a  Committee  of 
Three  chosen  from  this  committee  and  acceptable 
to  both  parties.  The  decision  of  this  committee 
shall  have  no  ecclesiastical  force,  but  its  utterance 
shall  be  regarded  as  voicing  the  united  judgment 
of  the  Home  Missions  Council  and  so  far  forth 
shall  be  binding  on  its  constituent  bodies. 

It  is  recognized  that  these  principles  do 
not  receive  the  most  enthusiastic  support  of 
church  leaders  who  are  thinking  in  terms  of 
denominational  progress  instead  of  commu- 
nity welfare.  But  this  lack  of  support  is 
an  evidence  of  their  value  instead  of  a  crit- 
icism. Denominational  interests  must  be 
sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  the  advancement 
of  the  entire  cause  when  the  two  come  into 
conflict.  There  is  reason  to  hope  that  not 
only  Protestants  but  also  Catholics  and 
Protestants  can  come  to  cooperate  on  pro- 
grams of  community  service,  thus  overcom- 
ing forever  the  vital  objection  to  religious 
leadership  now  made  that  because  of  funda- 
mental differences  in  belief  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  church  cannot  render  an 
organized  community  service. 

The  relations  of  the  benevolent  boards  of 
the  several  denominations  to  other  church 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       167 

organizations  are  such  that  but  Uttle  can  be 
said  concerning  methods  of  relating  mission- 
ary work  to  the  larger  program  of  commu- 
nity service.  In  each  case  where  projects 
for  missionary  aid  are  presented  effort 
should  be  made  to  see  that  local  conditions 
are  made  such  that  the  pastor  can  render  the 
best  service.  It  must  be  recognized  that  the 
apphcation  for  outside  aid  is  in  itself  an  ad- 
mission of  local  weakness.  The  people  are 
poor,  or  indifferent  to  the  type  of  service  to 
which  they  have  been  accustomed.  There 
has  been  unforeseen  disaster,  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  church  property  by  fire  or  in  some 
other  way.  Sudden  movements  of  popula- 
tion have  temporarily  weakened  the  support 
of  the  church  and  new  resources  have  not  yet 
been  developed.  Circuit  systems  must  be 
broken  up  so  that  people  will  be  willing  to 
support  full-time  resident  pastors  with  effi- 
cient programs  for  service.  Customs  of  ex- 
pecting the  pastor  to  make  his  Hving  in 
outside  work  and  attending  to  religious  serv- 
ice as  a  side  issue  must  be  overcome.  The 
pastor's  residence  may  be  in  such  condition 
that  families  cannot  be  sacrificed  for  the  sake 
of  missionary  communities  and  residences 


168    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

must  be  supplied  by  liberal  outside  aid  as 
the  preliminary  to  effective  service.  Church 
buildings  are  inadequate,  and  the  trained 
minister  must  be  given  every  assurance  that 
aid  will  be  rendered  in  bringing  physical 
equipment  up  to  par.  In  each  case  the  prob- 
lems that  present  themselves  must  be  met. 
The  demands  of  any  one  charge  do  not  com- 
pare with  the  demands  of  any  other.  And 
methods  must  be  adapted  to  meet  the  spe- 
cific needs  of  each  charge.  These  are  matters 
that  must  be  left  to  those  responsible  for 
administration  of  missionary  funds. 

When  the  religious  forces  of  America 
learn  their  problems  so  that  a  long-time  or- 
ganized program  of  religious  advance  can 
be  worked  out,  when  they  learn  to  coop- 
erate in  carrying  out  this  program,  then 
the  hajDhazard,  wasteful,  competitive  mis- 
sionary program  that  has  characterized 
rural  religious  work  in  the  past  will  dis- 
appear and  we  shall  see  one  of  the  most 
marked  advances  in  religious  welfare  the 
world  has  ever  known. 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       169 


CHAPTER  XI 

SUMMARY    AND    CONCLUSION 

In  the  preceding  chapters  the  effort  has 
been  made  to  outline  some  of  the  conditions 
and  principles  involved  in  organizing  the 
rural  church  for  community  service.  The 
field  has  been  limited  by  distinguishing  be- 
tween that  type  of  service  which  has  to  do 
with  man's  relation  to  his  Maker  and  that 
which  has  to  do  with  his  relations  to  his  fel- 
low man.  The  latter  service  has  been  chosen 
as  the  field  for  the  present  discussion,  and 
the  effort  has  been  made  to  keep  within  the 
field,  regardless  of  the  desirability  of  dis- 
cussion of  the  other  phases  of  the  work  of 
the  rural  church.  The  field  itself  both  as  to 
size  of  community  and  the  scope  of  the  entire 
field  has  received  attention.  An  attempt 
has  been  made  to  present  the  philosophic 
basis  justifying  the  church  in  giving  large 
attention  to  community  service.  Some  of 
the  more  general  aspects  of  rural  life  de- 
manding attention  on  the  part  of  the  church 


170    CHURCH  COOPERATION 

have  been  discussed  and  the  reasons  for  as- 
suming that  certain  phases  of  rural  social 
activity  properly  belong  to  the  church  rather 
than  to  other  agencies  have  been  presented 
to  the  reader. 

The  problems  of  adjustment  between  reli- 
gious denominations  as  such  and  between  the 
parent  religious  organizations  and  so-called 
"arms"  of  the  church  have  been  outhned 
and  methods  of  adjustment  suggested.  The 
relation  of  all  religious  forces  to  other  rural 
life  agencies  has  received  some  attention; 
and,  finally,  the  missionary  program  of  the 
church  as  the  agency  for  strengthening  the 
weak  and  of  advancing  the  general  cause  of 
conquest  of  all  life  with  principles  of  Chris- 
tian living  was  discussed.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  principles  presented  will  at  least  be  given 
careful  consideration,  and  if  they  are  not 
accepted  in  full,  that  they  will  at  least  pro- 
voke discussion  that  will  eventually  lead  to 
some  form  of  organization  that  will  more 
nearly  meet  the  demands  of  the  time  than 
the  present  unorganized,  unrelated  secta- 
rian and  other  efforts  that  paralyze  and  dis- 
courage those  responsible  for  service  in  the 
local  as  well  as  in  more  general  fields  of 


IN  COMMUNITY  LIFE       171 

Christian  work.  If  this  object  can  be  ac- 
comphshed,  the  effort  to  point  the  direction 
organization  should  take  will  not  have  been 
in  vain. 


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